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Back in the old days of high school debate, I was somewhat of a ‘go for the throat’ kind of guy. Cross examination was my favorite part. It was the one time you could interact with the other team and get direct answers from direct questions. And of course if you didn’t get a direct answer, you pretty much said so during your next speech. It was incredibly effective.

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My favorite technique was to attack what I called “power tagging.” Both teams were expected to read evidence that supported their position or proved the other teams position wrong. Almost all teams would put a “tag”, or title, to their piece of evidence summarizing the claims that they wanted the judge to understand as the take home message. Well, it didn’t take long for industrious debaters to realize a bit of liberal tagging could go a long way to making a survey or study say something that wasn’t in the evidence.

This is why cross examination was my favorite part of the debate. You sat and listened, waiting for the inevitable power tagging that was to come. Then you got up, asked to see the evidence, read the part that was taken out of context or, what was even more fun, ask the other team to read their own evidence and then read the tag again and ask how the two mesh. Incredibly effective, incredibly discrediting. After our first cross-ex, you new whether you were going to win or not.

Well, the media is no different. My friend in class yesterday pointed out a little industrious power tagging between news stands. One right next to the other had headlines that left completely different impressions and yet they discussed the exact same poll. How many read the headline and got an immediate impression? If my debate days are any indication, quite a few.

We have become a power tagged nation.

As reported yesterday, nostimulus.com by American’s for Prosperity crashed due to the overwhelming traffic it received after a Fox News appearance by Tim Phillips, AFP President. The site was down for several hours yesterday but still racked up more than 100,000 signatures in just one day, according to an AFP press release today.

“There is growing citizen outrage against this spending nightmare and American citizens are not giving up,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. “In fact, taxpayers raised their voices louder, doubling the number of petitions in one day.”

If you haven’t already, go and sign the petition at nostimulus.com.

More close to home, you can also do you part for state economic development and lower energy costs by signing the Kansas Republican Assembly’s online petition to build the Sunflower Electric Power Plants in western Kansas. Today’s economic climate no longer allows us to play environmental roulette with our state’s energy policies.

Sign the petition and we’ll deliver this message to your Legislators:

“I encourage you to develop energy policies that are based on proven science to meet our growing need for electricity and allow our economy to grow, while preserving our quality of life in Kansas.”

Sign today!

Bob Weeks at Wichita Liberty has an excellent explanation of Proposition K and its potential effects on property values and tax rates. The post is in response to a con editorial in the Wichita Eagle, “Tax Plan Would Shift Burden, Be Arbitrary.” The Eagle also featured a guest column in favor of Prop K, “Proposition K is Fair, Equal, Transparent.”

Weeks expertly dissects arguments opposing Prop K, showing the lack of logic behind each one. As you read both Wichita Eagle columns and Week’s post, keep in mind our current system and ask yourself which you would prefer.

Also, note which side is attempting to solve the property taxation problem and which is simply trying to find excuses to keep the old system in place.

In a post entitled, “Plenty of reasons to be concerned about Proposition K“, Brownlee claims that Prop K may not be good for areas that don’t appreciate in value as quickly as others.

…it also could significantly benefit wealthier, growing neighborhoods while disadvantaging homeowners in poorer areas, because some neighborhoods and cities have much higher property appreciation rates than 2 percent.

Like many arguments that are made by the left, the problem seems valid on the surface until further investigation is conducted. Such is the case here. The very problem Brownlee claims to want to avoid has already propagated itself through the system.

Property tax valuation changes from 1997 to 2007 by county courtesy of the Kansas Meadowlark

For Brownlee’s argument to be valid, he should show areas in the state where property tax valuations have risen below the 2% per year mandated by Prop K. The map to the right provided courtesy of Kansas Meadowlark shows that overall, property tax valuations have risen by significant amounts over a ten year period from 1997 to 2007.

Unfortunately for Brownlee, 104 of 105 counties in Kansas saw rises in tax valuations greater than 2% per year over the specified ten year period. This means that had Prop K been passed in 1997, taxpayers in every county but one in Kansas would have benefited from the 2% per year rise in tax valuations.

The one exception to the rule is Coffey County where property values have actually gone down according to the county appraisers office. Coffey County is where Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant is located which provides a significant portion of property tax revenues.

Further, Brownlee ignores a critical component of Prop K, that valuations rise at a set 2% as long as improvements are not made. It seems obvious to me that if an area is rising in value quicker than another, it’s due to property improvements and new buildings. This is accounted for in Prop K and Brownlee’s argument ignores this.

Brownlee continued:

Over time, this proposed system could result in significant disparities and a disconnect from actual market values, thus likely violating the Kansas Constitution’s requirement of a “uniform and equal basis of valuation.”

Again, this statement ignores what is happening with valuations already. Johnson County, the fastest growing county in the state, saw a rise in values of 111.8%. It’s easy to argue that Johnson County certainly has been a leader in building improvements that raise property values in comparison to other counties in the state. And yet counties such as Wabaunsee (116.3%) and Osage (123.9%) saw a higher increase in values than Johnson. Disparity is already present.

Like many arguments made by the left, we’re led to believe that an idea must be rejected outright based on the idea that it may harm someone somewhere in the future while ignoring the vast majority that are currently being harmed by a defective system.

Prop K is not a perfect system by any means, no system of taxation will ever be perfect or viewed as completely fair by everyone, but it is certainly a large improvement over the current valuation system in Kansas. Certainly it is not something that should be rejected outright by baseless, thoughtless “problems” that already exist and are currently harming the vast majority of property taxpayers in Kansas.

Last Thursday a socialist Kansas blog put up a post titled, “Weirdest Post Ever: Kelley, Parkinson Hottest Kansas Politicos.” And I have to agree somewhat, that was a weird post, although I’m not sure about ever.

I guess the Eagle isn’t to be outdone. Phillip Brownlee put up a post this morning titled, “Is Parkinson ‘hottest’ politician in Kansas?”

Of course, it’s not unusual for the Eagle to piggy back off of other blogs. The Kansas City Star’s PrimeBuzz is often copied by the Eagle, although they usually put more time between the Star’s post and the Eagle’s post than this little duo today. However, posting directly from a Kansas liberal-socialist blog is a first to my knowledge.

I’m confused, do you guys just have nothing better to discuss or are you really that hard up for blog topics?

Finally, I’ll leave you with this. The anonymous Democrat included State Rep. Kasha Kelley in their photographs and list of ‘hottest’ Kansas politicians. The Wichita Eagle posted photos of Mark Parkinson and Joshua Svaty, both Democrats and only discussed the two in their post.

First, it’s weird Phillip Brownlee wouldn’t include a woman in his post. Second, how funny is it (and I don’t mean haha funny but how sad funny) that Republicans get more coverage from anonymous Democrat blogs than the ‘fair and balanced’ mainstream media of the Wichita Eagle?

The Eagle editorial staff isn’t even willing to say a Republican looks good!

Kansas public schools only got 75% of the payments they should have received in December. The reason? It’s simple really, the state doesn’t have the cash.

“We do not have enough cash in the bank,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ budget director Duane Goossen.

And I guess it depends on your point of view what the cause of the missed payment is. According to many news outlets, it’s just a sign of the slipping economy (as opposed to massive overspending by Kansas bureaucrats.)

If signs of economic troubles weren’t already clear, here is another one. A monthly payment of $220 million split among the state’s 297 public school districts was delayed four days this week.

And what, just what, might have been done to avoid this? Well, here’s a hint, don’t spend so much!

As American’s for Prosperity’s Alan Cobb said:

“Isn’t it worth mentioning the impact of four years of large budget increases on the current budget situation? If the budget had simply increased at 5 percent, hardly a small number, each year since 2004, we would have more than $2 billion in the bank now.”

Yes, I do think it’s worth mentioning.

But apparently the Kansas press doesn’t. A Google News search turned up only a rehashed AP article and a breaking story from the Journal-World. You would think the state of Kansas literally defaulting on it’s payment obligations would be news, but not in Kansas.

Here’s something else worth mentioning that I’m sure the Kansas press won’t; this ship was run aground by none other than Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

During her six years in office state spending has risen at astronomical rates. State obligations in the form of more bloated education spending were set in stone by hand picked Supreme Court justices and now Kansas has defaulted on payments because the governor is unwilling to cut spending when the state needed it the most.

And for my favorite quote of the day came from newly appointed State Treasurer Dennis McKinney (D), who was upset that legislative leaders finally got a clue and stopped letting bids for statehouse renovations.

“Now is the time to build highways and renovate the Statehouse because it costs the taxpayers less…”

Look, I’m no fan of the massive amounts of money wasted by public education, but don’t you think meeting our educational needs are more important than plush new offices for legislators?

You have to ask yourself, this is the guy Sebelius chose to be our next Treasurer? Another grand move on her part.

And what’s worse, she couldn’t have gotten us into this royal mess without the help of liberal Republicans.

What’s that? Moderate? I’m sorry, but moderate means just that, taking things in moderation. Voting for massive increases in spending when the state doesn’t have the money isn’t moderation.

And then, in true ‘moderate’ form, it’s all blamed on tax cuts rather than massive spending.

Here’s a newsflash for all the ‘moderates’ out there (Republican or otherwise as no politician in Kansas is a liberal according to the Kansas press); Kansans aren’t taxed too little, you spend too much!!!

Now you know how I feel.

I began with the Kansas City Star’s Primebuzz blog, then I moved to the Lawrence Journal-World, The Topeka Capital Journal and others. And it couldn’t have been more plain from the headlines I was reading…man, what a beating Phill Kline took today.

For instance, I began with this headline, “KS court blisters Kline” where I was told, “It’s one of the most blistering opinions delivered in memory, according to The Star’s legal reporter.”

Then I moved to the Journal-World, “Supreme Court blisters Kline, orders return of abortion clinic records.” The first paragraph said it all, “The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday ordered Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline to turn over copies of patients’ medical records from an abortion clinic he is prosecuting.”

KSN in Wichita, “The Kansas Supreme Court orders Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline to turn over abortion patients’ medical records.”

As I continued on my ‘mainstream’ media tour, it was more of the same.

Finally, I turned to my emailed headline from Kansas Liberty, “Despite opinion’s scathing language, DA Kline can keep copies of abortion records.”

Based on the scathing language directed toward Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline in an opinion issued by the Kansas Supreme Court this morning, it might seem easy to conclude that Kline not only suffered a legal defeat, but that he disgraced the offices in which he served during an investigation of Planned Parenthood.

But, cutting through the criticism and innuendo contained in the majority opinion, written by Justice Carol A. Beier, it appears the ruling actually favored Kline on the law.

Beier wrote: “The above analysis leads us to the conclusion that [Planned Parenthood] and the Attorney General are not entitled to the primary relief they seek. We will not force Kline to disgorge ‘each and every copy’ of the patient records Kline and his subordinates have made ‘and any and all other evidence Kline developed and obtained while he was acting as Attorney General that he took with him to Johnson County’.”

Then, I turned to KAKE Channel 10 from Wichita. What I read there made me think two different rulings from rival courts had been passed down today.

“Supreme Court Denies Contempt Proceedings Against Phill Kline”

The Supreme Court denied an abortion clinic’s petition for contempt proceedings against former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline on Friday, but the court granted other relief and sanctioned Kline for his handling of the clinic’s patient records.

What a difference some perspective gives.

It’s amazing what a loaded headline and a writers slant will do to your understanding of the facts. As I read headlines proclaiming that the records must be “returned” to the AG’s office, I found myself thinking that Kline had lost, the records had to be returned, and the case was over.

It was amazing. I continued to think this even as I read, in story after story, that only copies had to be turned over. It wasn’t a return of records, it was a copy and supply of records.

I have to admit, it never fully sunk in until I got to the Kansas Liberty and KAKE 10 stories.

How many people do you think never got around to reading those articles?

Today isn’t a defeat for Phill Kline. Today is a defeat for a free and responsible press and an informed public.