Mary Sanchez
National standards can help put education first
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has some bad news for the Vatican. Archbishop Oscar Romero, the influential cleric infamously assassinated by a right-wing death squad, a man who made a valiant stand for human rights during El Salvador’s U.S.-backed civil war, just wasn’t a big enough deal to be included in Texas’ social studies curriculum.
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'Second Chance' center could prevent more red Jeep moments
Mar 11, 1:25 AMRaise your hand if you were riveted to the red Jeep this week, glued to the tube as it raced over lawns, crashed through fences, police in hot pursuit. My hand is up.
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Michelle Obama takes on the battle of the bulge, 2010
Mar 8, 8:53 PMWhile her husband wages a David vs. Goliath battle to achieve sensible health care reform, Michelle Obama faces an equally daunting adversary — our fat, a tendency toward inactivity, our love of sugar highs and carbo-overload lows, along with the industries and mentalities that keep our love handles in place.
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A genuine example of solidarity across borders
Mar 8, 12:56 AMThis is one priest’s journey of reinvigorating his faith. Yes, even the career-devout seek ways to heighten beliefs.
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Another kind of warning for Waldo
Mar 4, 1:13 AMA policeman’s vocalized dream: “If everybody was that responsive, this would be a hell of a safe city.” The comment was made about the crooks-beware full assault that the Waldo area has orchestrated in reply to a serial rapist.
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Obama could put an end to USDA-approved racism
Mar 1, 9:09 PMWhen all is said and done, and the record of the Obama administration is written, one big accomplishment is likely to be attributed to the president’s race.
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Should Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus continue to back male candidates?
Feb 28, 11:04 PMLike most issues involving the sexes, the dilemma facing the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus is complicated and dependent on perspective. Last week, the caucus voted to continue its policy of endorsing male candidates when no qualified progressive woman is running.
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Fear of rape can paralyze, or protect
Feb 25, 12:51 AMWhat most women are less apt to recognize is that the idea of a violent rape by a stranger neatly sidesteps a critical fact: The majority of rapes are not by strangers. The methods of the Waldo rapist are not the norm for all sexual assaults.
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‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’? Don’t just stand there. Kill this policy
Feb 22, 8:40 PMThe troops’ silence is telling. If only the timid members of Congress and the nation’s top do-gooders would stop squawking about “don’t ask, don’t tell” long enough to absorb the message.
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Kansas marriages need more than covenants
Feb 21, 11:23 PMSeems to me, the Kansas Legislature has a full plate without meddling in marriage. The state has lackluster revenue, school districts threatening to sue and a pension fund that could be shy on assets. But here we go, off to try to legislate our way to long-term fidelity.
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Counting prisoners is an issue for us all
Feb 18, 1:46 AMThe counting of prisoners in redrawing political districts could be revisited because of a little-publicized shift made by the U.S. Census Bureau this month.
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Mental health revisions can lead to better care
Feb 15, 8:09 PMTiger Woods, we now know, isn’t just another horrible excuse for a husband. He may in fact suffer — poor man! — from the troubling disorder known as “hypersexuality.”
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Union Station needs a permanent solution
Feb 15, 12:52 AMThe protracted decline of Union Station stuns me viscerally. Like those of so many Kansas Citians, my family’s story is entwined there.
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Hold the tactics, and the pizza
Feb 11, 12:55 AMAt the risk of receiving a stinky pizza, we have to explore Kansas City’s connection to the doings of the self-billed “America’s toughest sheriff” down in Arizona.
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Where was missionaries’ common sense?
Feb 8, 10:57 PMFirst, to save my soul — and to save my e-mail in-box from an overload of screeds from God-fearing folks — I offer this preface: I firmly believe that, throughout the centuries, mankind has accomplished more good than harm acting in the name of God.
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Balance needed in regulating strip clubs
Feb 7, 11:06 PMThe way I see it, three kinds of politicians concern themselves with the business of strip clubs.
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Employers have a stake in KC's education
Feb 4, 2:29 AMBlame-the-parent seems to be a favored sport in just about any discussion of the Kansas City School District. Yet while it's true “education begins at home,” the belief also shields others from realizing a role they could play.
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Old marriage maxims divorced from reality
Feb 1, 8:20 PMThis one’s for all the college-educated lonely hearts out there, just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s for the women who gobble up books with such titles as “He’s Just Not That Into You,” who sign up with multiple matchmaker Web sites, who maybe even thumb through well-worn copies of the Mars and Venus books.
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Missouri unfairly bans food stamps from former drug felons
Jan 31, 11:13 PMCommon sense often takes the slow route seeping into the political mindsets around Jefferson City. Seems hubris, ignorance, denial and good old stubbornness have to be peeled away before some bills receive even the semblance of a fair hearing.
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Kobach is still at it on tuition crusade
Jan 28, 1:20 AMYou have to wonder about a politician who consistently targets those least likely to defend themselves. But Kris Kobach is back in another state court, continuing his decadeold pursuit of trying to stop children of illegal immigrants from attending public universities at in-state tuition rates.
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Should Latinos boycott U.S. census? Ay Dios mio!
Jan 25, 9:42 PMSurely an appropriate dicho exists for the English language expression: “Cut off your nose to spite your face.” Dichos are Spanish language phrasings for a homespun bit of wisdom. The kind of utterances a mother would let loose to recalibrate her child’s wayward thoughts.
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Nostalgia won't help Hickman Mills students succeed
Jan 25, 1:08 AMThe Hickman Mills Board of Education can choose to close either Ruskin High School or Hickman Mills High School without stirring any anxiety from me. My only wish is that the board members stay focused on the opportunities the decision will afford current and future students.
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Kline's questionable actions resurface
Jan 21, 1:09 AMJust as the Scott Roeder murder trial gets under way in Wichita, Phill Kline surfaces again. So fate allows for putting him in his place — somewhere on the continuum of abortion opposition, from its reasonable and thoughtful opponents, to the unethical and righteous to the insane and violent.
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Haiti provides a lesson in King's relevance
Jan 19, 8:01 PMSo when did evangelist Pat Robertson begin channeling Fred Phelps’ style of irrational connections? One wonders, listening to Robertson’s callous commentary regarding Haiti’s plight.
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Immigration break could help Haitians in the U.S.
Jan 15, 9:09 PMOne would hope it wouldn’t have taken a devastating act of God to force U.S. immigration officials to afford some benevolence to Haiti. But it’s too late for such sentiments now. Here we are, with thousands of Haitians dead and dying. Finally, on Friday Washington ended its hesitancy to offer the 30,000 Haitians living in the U.S. illegally the leniency offered to other immigrants whose countries had been devastated by nature. It is the opportunity to aid their country by remaining in the U.S. and working.
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Runaways pose a quandary for police
Jan 14, 2:20 AMFor police, runaways are a constant quandary. If your child is in danger, you want Capt. Mark Folsom and his eight detectives on the job. But if not, the special victims unit would better spend its hours on child pornography, sexual and physical abuse of children and juvenile court bookings.
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Two ways of looking at the world
Jan 11, 10:00 PMThe perspectives of two elderly men crossed my desk recently. Both are men of the World War II era.
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Getting across the message on mobility
Jan 10, 10:57 PMListen long enough to just about anyone who has seen more than six decades and chances are you’ll detect a common thread. It’ll poke up in the conversation eventually. And it will be tied to a nearly universal emotion — worry about the loss of independence.
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Snowplows fuel our winter of discontent
Jan 7, 12:52 AMRemember that wisdom about not judging until you’ve walked a mile in another’s shoes? How about until you’ve plowed their route?
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Overreacting to bomber helps terrorists’ mission
Jan 4, 10:23 PMNow might be a good time to remind everyone that terrorists don’t literally have to hit their mark to make a mark. Sure, the young Nigerian failed to blow up that Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.
