Is Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh playing politics with the November ballot? Ballot Access News reports:

The ballot-qualified Kansas Reform Party held its state convention back on May 31, and nominated candidates for office, including presidential electors pledged to Chuck Baldwin for president. On June 27, the party turned in the paperwork for these nominations. The Kansas Secretary of State has hinted that he won’t allow the party to do this...

Roberts should have known that it was unfair to ask Boeing to compete with a company subsidized by European governments.

At a press conference in Wichita Tuesday, Jim Slattery, Candidate for US Senate for Kansas, criticized incumbent Senator Pat Roberts’ role in the removal of a precisely worded "Buy American" provision from the 2006 Defense Authorization Bill. The removal of the provision allowed European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) to compete with Boeing for the Air Force tanker contract.

“Roberts had two chances to fight for Boeing and Kansas,” Slattery said. “First as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and then as a member of the conference committee for the 2006 Defense Authorization bill. On both occasions, Roberts failed.”

The explicit purpose of the provision was to prevent EADS from competing against Boeing for the Air Force tanker contract.

Tuesday was the filing deadline for Republican and Democratic primaries in Kansas. Kansas Democrats are is an upbeat mood with a...

full slate of candidates running this year for federal office and the State Board of Education and will also have more legislative candidates on the ballot than ever before. In 2004, Kansas Democrats contested 62 Republican-held legislative seats. This year, the Kansas Democratic Party has candidates running in 134 seats, including 77 seats currently held by Republicans.

This is going to be a little arcane, but it is important. National Public Radio is doing some very interesting reporting from China. Two of their top people were in China when the earthquake struck. One of them, Melissa Block, filed a fascinating report the other day...

Looking back, it seems a bizarre coincidence that when I first visited Dujiangyan in April, there was a water-releasing ceremony — a happy occasion.

It was an over-the-top spectacle with thousands of actors and dancers dressed as ancient warriors and princesses. The annual event honors a visionary engineer named Li Bing. In the third century B.C., Li designed Dujiangyan's legendary irrigation system, which is now a major tourist attraction. The earthquake damaged the water system, though it is reported to be safe. About 2,300 years ago, Li figured out a way to control the unpredictable, destructive Min River...

Jeff Weintraub comments on Matt Yglesias post about the myth of Obama's Jewish problem:

But, they prefer either Democratic candidate over McCain by very large margins:

Clinton: 66%
McCain: 27%

Obama: 61%
McCain: 32%

OK, let's add a small qualification. The 61% figure estimated here does not match the proportions of the Jewish vote that have gone for the Democratic candidate in the most recent Presidential elections.

John Edwards set the agenda for all the candidates in the early stages of the primary battles. He came up with the first and best comprehensive health care plan. He raised the issue of poverty as no leading politician has done for 40 years. His charisma, his abilities and his appeal to those voters Obama must win in November are beyond dispute.

Asked if the distribution of money and wealth in this country is fair or if they need to be distributed more evenly, about two-thirds of Americans agree with the latter response.

On April 24th, union members and community members from Wichita and south central Kansas turned out in force to celebrate the 20th annual Workers Memorial Day, which is celebrated every April 28, the anniversary of the founding of OSHA. You can view videos and pictures of our event here. On Workers Memorial Day, we joined our brothers and sisters around the world to remember our fellow unionists who have lost their lives and been injured on the job. The event in Wichita was one of hundreds across the country and around the world.

The annual AFL-CIO Death on the Job report released last week shows just how far we have to go for safer workplaces. On an average day, 16 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease, and another 11,200 are injured. In Kansas, there are only 15 safety inspectors. It would take 99 years for OSHA inspectors to inspect each workplace once!

Leonard Zeskind reminds us that we must re-tell the story:

On April 19, 1943 — the day of the first night of Passover sixty five years ago — the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto launched an armed revolt. Faced with little material help from the non-Jewish populations surrounding them, as well as open opposition from Polish anti-Semites, these Jews fought with pistols, hand grenades and Molotov cocktails the heavy artillery, noxious gas, fire and air power of the German army and its minions. Despite the fact that this was the first open urban revolt against Nazi rule in Europe, the bravery of these Jewish fighters was met with less than an enthusiastic response by the Allied command. These acts of armed opposition, and others like it, should put an end forever to the myth that the Jews of Europe walked quietly and without protest to their deaths. And their story must be told and retold in every generation.

I've been busy with other projects - web and otherwise - and posting has been inexcusably light. So let's start with a round-up of websites I've just recently discovered...