Kobach a couple weeks ago in the Wichita Eagle:

Kansas’ 2009 legislative session has been dominated thus far by the budget crisis, which is hardly surprising. But all of that attention on the shrinking coffers has overshadowed an equally important, and related, debate — whether Kansas should change its method of selecting state Supreme Court justices.

The House Judiciary Committee recently heard testimony on House Concurrent Resolution 5005, which would scrap the current Supreme Court Nominating Commission and replace it with the federal model — allowing the governor broader discretion to pick nominees, but subjecting the nominees to Senate confirmation.

At the hearing, no fewer than seven law professors showed up to testify. Five (including me) supported the proposal. Two defended the status quo.

Twenty-two states use some form of nominating commission. But Kansas has the most extreme version in the country. Only Kansas gives its lawyers the power to select a majority of the commission’s members. This creates an institutional bias that favors more power for courts and more profit for attorneys. Moreover, the commission makes its decisions behind closed doors without any accountability to the public.

From Senator Pilcher Cook:

We’ve been through turnaround and now are considering bills from the House along with some Senate bills.  There is much legislation that has crossed my desk, and I have posted the information on my website on the Legislative Reports page.

Last week the House passed the HB 2014 comprehensive energy bill 79-44.  Even though it’s 5 votes short of the 84 needed for a veto-proof majority (Gov. Sebelius promised a veto), there are possibly five or more votes who don’t want to receive heavy duty arm-twisting before the veto session. (more…)

From Congressman Tiahrt:

Dear Friend,

Welcome to this week’s U.S. Capitol Update.

No More Bailouts

It is time for Congress to stand up and say no more bailouts. This week I introduced a No More Bailouts Resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for Congress to stop spending billions of borrowed taxpayer dollars on bailout after bailout. My resolution states clearly to the American public that Washington has a spending problem, and that the wasteful spending must stop. (more…)

Steve Kraske:

State Rep. Curt Dougherty, an Independence Democrat, is planning a fundraiser Monday in Room 317A at the Statehouse.

That happens to be his office, The Arch City Chronicle reports.

What’s the big deal about that? You can’t do it.

The fund-raising invite contains this line, which just might haunt Dougherty awhile:

“Just remember you don’t gotta like me to donate, you just gotta deal with me.”

AP:

A freed Guantanamo prisoner has said conditions at the US detention camp in Cuba have worsened since President Barack Obama was elected, claiming guards wanted to “take their last revenge”.Binyam Mohamed, the first detainee to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay since Obama took office, also said British agents “sold me out” by cooperating with his alleged torturers, in his first interview since release which was published Sunday.

Mohamed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian-born former British resident, gave further details of what he has called the “medieval” torture he faced in Pakistan and Morocco, as well as in a secret CIA prison in Kabul and at Guantanamo.

“The result of my experience is that I feel emotionally dead,” he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper. “It seems like a miracle my brain is still intact.”

Far from improving, Mohamed said conditions at Guantanamo have worsened since Obama was elected in November.

HT Drudge.

WSJ:

One of the biggest challenges in fighting global warming is getting countries to act. One of the biggest risks may be that countries do act—with unilateral geoengineering schemes to stave off climate change.

Geoengineering, the idea of raising giant sunshades or seeding the atmosphere with sun-blocking particulates, is taking a lot of heat lately. New scientific research suggests the potential benefits from geoengineering may be wildly overstated, or a very short-term solution at best. Eminent climate-change types like Ralph Cicerone, the president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, doubts it will ever be a climate-change solution.

The problem is that nobody really knows for sure. As Foreign Affairs notes this month (sub reqd.), geoengineering as a dicipline is still well outside the mainstream: “Nearly the entire community of geoengineering scientists could fit comfortably in a single university seminar room, and the entire scientific literature on the subject could be read during the course of a transatlantic flight.”

Bringing geoengineering “out of the closet,” Foreign Affairs suggests, should be a global priority—not as a climate solution necessarily, but as an insurance policy against rogue states or even rich individuals:

Club for Growth’s Andy Roth:

The Hill:

The hosting of a controversial Dutch politician and his allegedly anti-Islam film at the Capitol this evening is concerning and disappointing, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the sole Muslim in Congress, said Thursday.

“I am a strong an advocate of First Amendment free speech. However, this is not about free speech, but rather an issue of propriety, timing and venue,” Ellison said of Sen. Jon Kyl’s (R-Ariz.) invitation to Dutch member of parliament Geert Wilders to screen his short film “Fitna” for audiences in the Capitol this evening. Critics have accused the film of being anti-Islamic. (more…)

AP: New estimate for Kan. budget deficit is $682M

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) – The size of Kansas’ projected budget deficit grows to $682 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

It’s the gap that would occur if the state tried to duplicate its current budget during its 2010 fiscal year.

The new figure Friday from legislative researchers is higher because state tax collections fell $14 million short of expectations in February. State officials had anticipated tax revenues of more than $260 million. Instead, Kansas collected less than $247 million.

The Hill last week:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in opposing any effort to revive the 1994 assault-weapons ban, putting them on the opposite side of the Obama administration.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley said the Nevada Democrat will preserve his traditional pro-gun rights voting record.

“Sen. Reid would oppose an effort [to] reinstate the ban if the Senate were to vote on it in the future,” Manley told The Hill in an e-mail late Thursday night.

It was not immediately clear whether Reid would block the bill from the Senate, but his opposition casts serious doubt on its chances. Also, Manley noted that Reid voted against the ban in 1994 and again when it expired in 2004.

Sen. Dick Kelsey has a Web site for his congressional run at DickKelsey.com.

Kansas Meadowlark:

Why doesn’t Gov. Sebelius tell the whole truth about the “resources available in the Federal Recovery Act”?  Why doesn’t Gov. Sebelius tell the citizens of the state of Kansas the “Stimulus” funds from the Federal Recovery Act will be paid for by higher federal taxes and debt?  State taxes are not going up with her plan, but where does Gov. Sebelius explain that higher federal taxes may result?

Why does Gov. Sebelius care so much for children and education, but is burdening future generations with unimaginable debt?  Why are we stealing from our children and grandchildren because of our irresponsible spending now? (more…)