Gov. Brownback calls on Legislature to make up revenue shortfall from tax cuts

I'm not sure exactly how this is related to the article, but I have to say I find it fascinating that two individuals such as yourself and myself can have a so much overlap in musical taste and yet virtually no overlap in political views. I'm not even being smart-alecky, I genuinely find that interesting.

Also, Jello Biafra is pretty doggone liberal. You're aware of that, right?

December 6, 2012 at 8:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Democratic leaders want to limit Kobach's work outside of Kansas government

Where are you getting that? The article specifically says elected officials. I don't think any of the receptionists are elected.

December 5, 2012 at 8:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Editorial: Rental oversight

"That is, we believe in allowing people to work together to solve problems and create wealth"

This would be great, if everyone actually did work together to solve problems and create wealth. But all too often, they don't. It may come as a surprise to you to learn that some people only look out for themselves, and if solving their own problems creates problems for others, or if creating their own wealth means depriving someone else, they are totally prepared to do that. In the case of rental properties in Lawrence, this means that if a landlord wants to set the rent way higher than it should be just because they want to have more money then they will. It is not necessarily an issue of supply and demand. There is plenty of supply (where I live, at least), and greed is what is driving up the price of rent. Landlords are choosing to overcharge because they can, and tenants don't have a lot of viable alternatives.

There is also nothing stopping people (in this case, landlords and tenants) from working together. If a landlord wants to tenant to sit down with his or her tenant and work out a reasonable rent based on costs to the landlord and the tenants's income, the can do that. Just because everyone else charges a certain amount doesn't make that amount mandatory. But so far I haven't heard of too many landlord choosing to do that.

November 16, 2012 at 3:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Sustainability support

You're not supposed to know about the dragons!
*points wand at L1*
Obliviate!

August 3, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Chick-fil-A flap is a free speech issue

Other posters have already pretty much covered my response to this piece (he's got a right to think/say what he wants, I've got a right to think he's an a-hole, blah blah blah) except for this -

LJ World, can you please please pretty pretty please look into finding some non-hacky opinion columnists to publish? Like, ones who actually understand how the first amendment works and don't resort to oversimplification of issues and/or name calling to make their point?

August 1, 2012 at 1:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Patrols to target aggressive driving

Dude, if you choose to drive way over the speed limit then that's your call, but how it is reasonable to expect everyone else to adjust their driving that just to accommodate you? The reality is that even when people are just using the passing lane to pass, if there are a lot of cars on the road (as there so often are at rush hour), it's not always safe to get over the second a speed demon pops up in your rearview mirror. It's also not always safe to floor it and match the speed, not to mention that not all cars are even capable of that (like mine, for instance, so I know that of which I speak). You don't own the road.

July 12, 2012 at 3:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Sound Off: I have a neighbor who likes to sunbathe naked in his backyard. Is this legal?

LJ World, might I suggest that when you get legal-y type questions like this one, you ask the city prosecutor or some other attorney for an answer in addition to the police. Just citing the ordinance without any interpretation application of the specifics of the situation raises more questions than it answers. Anyone can look up the city code. In this case, it's not clear whether a private yard is actually reasonably calculated to be viewed from a public place, and even if it is, is the other neighbor's home considered a public place? Is there a difference between being able to see a nude sunbather from the sidewalk, as opposed to a second story window?

July 11, 2012 at 8:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Westar seeking volunteers for pilot project that encourages off-peak electric usage

I think 'peak' refers to when energy use tops out on a given day. So on any given day in the winter there might be a longer period where energy use tops out, but the overall level of use could still be lower than it is during the shorter peak time in the summer.

July 10, 2012 at 8:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Lawrence's unemployment rate increases

The people who want to work are also applying for jobs and not having a whole lot of luck, either with getting the jobs or even finding jobs to apply for that pay a decent wage. At least that's been my observation. You have an incredibly narrow view of why someone might be out of work.

July 6, 2012 at 2:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Every month in 2012 in Lawrence has been hotter than average

Perhaps that is because it didn't, you know, happen in Lawrence. The LJ World is a local paper that reports on local news. Yes, they do report on events of national significance, but I venture a guess that there are loads of things that the LJ World has not reported on, not because of some vast conspiracy, but because they are outside the paper's scope.

July 6, 2012 at 2:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )