Subject: Social Policy

• Gals, These Guys Know What’s Best

  March 11, 2008

• Higher Taxes for Health Care? You Know You Agree

  September 23, 2008

• Doctors' Orders?

  John Ashcroft says he pushed for "the real" patients' bill of rights. But who's the real John Ashcroft?

  August 31, 2000

• Kansas budget woes: School funding? Or the economy, stupid?

  Bruce Baker thought he escaped Kansas' school funding wars when he moved to the east coast to teach at Rutgers University. But a couple of weeks ago, the school finance expert got sucked back in by Kansas Liberty, the self-professed "fair and factual" news source that's partially owned by conservative state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook. Kansas Liberty cited a study released earlier this month -- "The Relationship Between School Funding and Student Achievement in Kansas Public Schools" -- in which Kans

  December 23, 2008

• Best Lawyer

  October 18, 2001

• SCHIP will not ruin cigars

  Enjoying the lovely weather this weekend, I found myself smoking a cigar. It's a habit I picked up from my high-school graduation party when a friend's dad gave me a Cuban as a present. I smoked half of it because he practically yanked it out of my mouth. "Anymore than that and you'll feel sick later," he told me. He was wrong. I felt sick from just that half -- but not enough to give up the practice. Back then cigars were rare treats, but for the last couple of years they sat in a sweet spot. W

  February 9, 2009

• Famous wanking advocator doesn't support Sebelius for cabinet position

  U.S. News & World Report is running a blog today about how former surgeon general Joycelyn Elders wants to see a doctor appointed as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services, not a lifelong politician like Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Paul Bedard's blog, Washington Whispers, quotes Elders saying of the HHS slot, "I feel there are many roles to fill in government, and I feel this is a health role. They need to hear about health and human services from a health provider's perspective

  February 20, 2009

• Off the Rack

  October 14, 2004

• Brownback congratulates Sebelius on HHS nomination. Will it haunt him in 2010?

  Kathleen SebeliusFire up the "Truth Truck." President Barack Obama is expected to name Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius his nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services today (watch it live at noon), and that's not going to make anti-abortion group Operation Rescue happy. For weeks, they've been criticizing Sebelius as unfit to serve because she hearts abortion. They released this nifty "fact sheet" chaining Sebelius to Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller. They also e-mailed around this ne

  March 2, 2009

• Monday, April 10, Ilus W. Davis Park

  April 20, 2006

• Not Exactly Skinhead Spam

  May 18, 2006

• Buy your cigarettes now. Cigarette tax two days away

  Flickr: Valerie EverettIf you smoke, this post won't be news because you've noticed the price of cigarettes jump in the past two weeks. Tobacco companies are getting ready for the increased federal tobacco tax by raising their own prices. (Can someone explain how tobacco companies raising the price of a pack 80 cents will help consumers "adjust," as the companies have put it? It just seems a way to eke more profit.)On Wednesday, the federal tax will go from 39 cents per pack to $1.01. All the ex

  March 30, 2009

• Hate-watch group tried to bump Kris Kobach from congressional testimony

  Kris KobachLast year, officials from the Missouri State Highway Patrol received training from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that gave them the authority to conduct immigration investigations and detain undocumented migrants. Where do local cops get off executing immigration law? Well, in 1996 Congress passed a law with a provision called 287(g) that opened the door for county and state officials to take a class, sign an agreement and essentially become a local arm of ICE. That progra

  April 7, 2009

• As Kathleen Sebelius leaves to help Barack Obama reform health care in Washington, here’s a checkup on what happened in Kansas

  April 9, 2009

• Letters from the week of April 16

  April 16, 2009

• In the Mexican’s 100-word essay contest, know-nothings prove how much they know

  March 26, 2009

• Letters from the week of March 26

  March 26, 2009

• Why do Mexican women hate Spanish women?

  October 2, 2008

• Busking for Better Days

  July 24, 2008

• There’s a good reason why César Chávez was against illegal immigration

  July 3, 2008

• The Real Mrs. Semler

  A few months ago, mostly just gardeners and Minutemen knew the woman who’s been at the center of Kansas City’s biggest controversy.

  October 11, 2007

• Back to School

  Even though he’s no longer running for office, UMKC’s most famous and controversial professor continues his campaigns.

  January 4, 2007

• To the Rescue

  Can't you see it? We're being invaded, but local Minutemen are prepared to stop it.

  November 16, 2006

• Jay's Anatomy

  September 14, 2006

• Scot-Libre

  July 6, 2006

• He don’t need no education

  December 1, 2005

• All's FAIR

  Kris Kobach loads up with anti-immigration ammo.

  September 23, 2004

• You Got Schooled

  Kansas lawmakers get the smack-down from a judge fed up with the state's places of learning.

  February 19, 2004

• Legal Tender

  The KC school district sends lawyers laughing to the bank.

  February 14, 2002

• Sounds of the Border

  The Phillips and Phillips Law Office finds easy listeners and fast money on Spanish radio.

  May 17, 2001

• May Day Workers' Rights Rally

  Animated with plenty of music, dancing and poetry, a workers' rights rally in Washington Park Friday afternoon was an upbeat contrast to the frustrated protests that exploded across Europe in honor of May Day. Far more hopeful, dozens of union workers and immigration reform advocates mingled in the grass, listening to speakers who called for workers of all backgrounds to unify against corporate and social oppression to build a greater, more equitable, America. Flanked by her two sons, both we

  May 4, 2009

• Seblius on the hot seat at House Ways and Means

  Former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made her first appearance before Congress as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary this week. For those of you who are wondering how the Obama administration's health-care reform effort will play out (or are just interested in following Sebelius' progress), the House Ways and Means Committee's home-page has an intriguing synopsis of how it went, complete with YouTubes of key exchanges.Essentially, the administration wants to please everyone and avoid givin

  May 8, 2009

• Kansas health-care reform official resigns

  Late Friday afternoon, the Kansas Health Policy Authority confirmed that its executive director, Marcia Nielsen, would soon be leaving the agency that's responsible for spending all of the state's health-care dollars and advising lawmakers on health-care policy (presumably so they can make good decisions about how to reform it). Nielsen was a key figure in former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' efforts to try to fix health care in Kansas. Marcia NielsenNielsen will take a job as Vice Chancellor of Publi

  May 11, 2009

• Scenes from the health-care struggle in Jefferson City

  June 11, 2009

• How Jason Kander gamed the Republicans

  Kansas City Rep. Jason Kander had an expectation of progress on health-care reform when he took his seat in the Missouri House of Representatives earlier this year. The freshman Democrat thought a landslide victory for Gov. Jay Nixon, who put health care at the forefront of his campaign, would translate into a mandate to provide coverage for more low-income Missourians. "I was naively confident that the Republicans understood the mandate from the people of Missouri to restore some access t

  June 11, 2009

• One Republican state rep who gives us hope on health care reform

  While spending time at the Missouri Capitol, working on this week's feature story, just about every Democratic lawmaker and staffer I spoke to in the House of Representatives emphasized that expanding health-care access had united the sometimes-fractious Democratic Party like no other issue. Rep. Ryan SilveyThat same group think was operating on the other side of the aisle, as well. The House Republicans all dug their heels into the same ideological cement and refused to restor

  June 12, 2009

• The Midwest is becoming much more Mexican

  They're here, they're Mexican and lawmakers aren't doing anyone any good by scapegoating their new residents. That was the take-home message last week, when Chicago-based researcher Rob Paral visited Kansas City to present his new study about Mexican immigration in the Midwest. Bottom line: Our neighbors from the South are coming to Missouri and surrounding states in record numbers and the overwhelming majority aren't arriving through legal channels. Whether you're a Minuteman or an immigrati

  June 15, 2009

• Health-care reform BS roundup for the week

  Health and Human Services Secretary (and former Kansas Governor) Kathleen Sebelius worked the Sunday morning talk-show circuit yesterday. The topic was health-care reform. ABC's George Stephanopoulos thinks the "news" he got out of their conversation was that "the secretary wouldn't commit to a presidential veto on health care reform legislation that adds to the federal deficit." He seemed most concerned about how Obama plans to pay for covering everyone. More helpful, however, would be some ser

  June 15, 2009

• Counter the BS on health-care reform: Today is national call-in day

  ​Oh, my god, did you hear how much money we're going to spend on socialized health care? It's going to bankrupt the nation! The Democratic Party's in chaos! Moderate "Blue Dog" Dems in the House are wavering! If Congress doesn't vote on health-care reform by the August recess, then Barack Obama's done!Talking points courtesy of the Republican National Committee.The working folks in the Missouri AFL-CIO, along with their allies and Democrats, are now providing some talking points of their own

  July 28, 2009

• With trans-fat gone, how do those fries taste?

  ​In an effort to improve the nutritional value of french fries and other fast-food items, several major cities have instituted bans on artificial trans fats in restaurants. New York City led the way in 2006, passing a ban on all artificial trans fats in food served in restaurants as health officials cited the connection between trans fats and heart disease. The ban was instituted in stages to allow time for compliance and has been in effect since November of 2008. Today, 13 jurisdictions, incl

  July 29, 2009

• Hey, here's a Republican's town hall meeting schedule

  This just in from Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins: a schedule of town hall meetings!Jenkins talks about health-care reform at a press conference on June 11.​Jenkins is a Republican who represents the 2nd District (mostly the entire eastern edge of the state, except for Johnson County). What do you bet she's not expecting any anti-health-care-reform disrupters?Actually, it sounds like she supports the obnoxiousness that's been going on at Democrats' town hall meetings recently. As she wrote i

  August 10, 2009

• Phill Kline compares Obamacare to Hitler killing the feeble

  ​Noted health-care expert and Kansan-in-exile Phill Kline finally chimed in "Obamacare"  -- and oh, man. The analysis from Dr. Phill's bloggy bully pulpit (hey, we're peers now, Phill) begins with a quote from an order issued by Adolf Hitler. "Authority (is hereby given for) certain physicians to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death."

  August 13, 2009

• Rightbloggers scour Kennedy funeral for Anti-Obamacare ammo

  ​ Starting today, Roy Edroso's Rightbloggers: Exploring the right Wing Blogosphere will run here every Monday until Armageddon.After a plane crash killed liberal Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife and daughter, and several staff members in 2002, his friends and family held a memorial at the University of Minnesota attended by 15,000 people. The theme was "Stand up, keep fighting" for Wellstone's beliefs, and the expected Democratic replacement for Wellstone on the November ticket, Walter Mondale, w

  August 31, 2009

• A sick, toxic summer of health care ends in a trip to the surgery center

  September 3, 2009

• Sebelius previews Obama's speech to Congress

  President Obama​After addressing schoolchildren yesterday, President Obama will address a group that only acts like children tonight in the prime-time hour when he tells Congress about his plans for health-care reform. In anticipation of the president's speech, Health and Human Services Secretary -- and former Kansas Governor -- Kathleen Sebelius released an audio preview. Listen to Sebelius' monotone delivery yourself or here's the transcript (highlights mine): "On Wednesday night, President

  September 9, 2009

• Smoking bans: Not responsible for everything

  ​Bar owners blame the smoking bans enacted in Kansas City, Missouri, and its suburbs for ruining their business and for starting World War I. (Gavrilo Princip saw a future where Serbian-Americans couldn't light up in midtown bars, so he shot the archduke of Austria.) But a study of communities in Minnesota finds that removing the ashtrays has a negligible effect on employment.Researchers at Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota used state job data to track bar and restaurant wo

  September 15, 2009

• Big ad campaign for Blue Cross and Blue Shield: BS?

  ​Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City has been running full-page ads all week in The Kansas City Star, explaining its positions in the debate about health-care reform. "At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, we're listening intently to your thoughts and concerns about health care and the proposed reforms now before Congress," the ads begin. "We'd like to take the opportunity to address some of the key issues surrounding this complex and rapidly evolving issue."Mostly, the ads -- l

  October 9, 2009

• Rep. Lynn Jenkins talkin' health care on FOX: How'd she do?

  Kansas Congresswoman Lynn "Looking for the Great White Hope" Jenkins made the Republican case against current health-care reform proposals on Fox News on Saturday. Because Republicans really do want to address the issue of health-care reform. They even have an alternative proposal! It's been on Jenkins' Web site for three months now, so, like she says, "it shouldn't be any revelation to the world" that Republicans want to reform health care, too -- they just want to do it right. Right?

  October 13, 2009

• Get well soon, Kathleen Sebelius

  ​Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is on the mend after having a procedure to remove the most common form of skin cancer from her forehead. The silver fox was looking rough, like Quasimodo rough -- check out the screen capture taken from the Associated Press -- yesterday while she testifying before Congress. Reports say Sebelius had a spot of basal cell carcinoma -- a slow-growing form of skin cancer -- removed.Get well soon, Kathy.

  October 22, 2009

• Where's Pat Roberts on health reform? Finally some answers

  Pat Roberts​This just in -- the best reporting so far on one of the biggest local mysteries in the health-care reform debate: Where's Pat Roberts? Even though the quotable Senator from Kansas sits on both the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he has "No fingerprints on health reform," according to stories published earlier this week by the Kansas Health Institute. Reporting from Washington, the KHI's Mike Shields writes: U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas

  October 28, 2009