Sam Brownback links (Lawrence Journal-World) Senator testing Iowa’s waters: If he someday becomes president, Sen. Sam Brownback might remember Saturday’s $25-a-head nacho dinner at the Iowa State Fairgrounds as a key step in the process. Brownback, a Kansas Republican considering a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, was one of several hopefuls to speak here Saturday. Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses give political activists in the state a big role in determining the eventual nominee.(Christianity Today comment) How to Win Friends and Influence Culture: The trafficking by international mafias and corrupt government officials of at least 1 million girls and women per year into sexual bondage and slavery had been the world’s fastest growing area of international crime, and the campaign to end this epidemic scourge was made in the spirit of 19th-century antislavery abolitionist evangelicals and the anti-trafficking efforts of Salvation Army founders William and Catherine Booth. … The meeting triggered broad coalition action that ultimately led to passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This historic legislation was fittingly sponsored by Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Chris Smith (rooted Christians for whom prayer and faith are central elements of their lives), the late Paul Wellstone (a good man, a secularist, and the most liberal Democrat then in the Senate), and former Congressman Sam Gejdenson (the son of Nazi Holocaust survivors).(New York Times) Must Future Court Nominees Match Qualifications of Roberts? During last week’s confirmation hearings, Republicans like Senators Sam Brownback of Kansas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma – both staunch opponents of abortion – sent signals to the White House that they would like the next nominee to have conservative credentials at least as strong as those of Judge Roberts. … Mr. Brownback, for instance, used the hearing to lecture on the abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome, and Mr. Coburn, a family physician, talked at length about the timetable of fetal development.Pat Roberts links (Reuters) CIA weighs requests for release of Sept 11 report: CIA Director Porter Goss is considering congressional requests for the release of a classified agency report on the September 11, 2001, attacks that is said to criticize former senior CIA officials including ex-director George Tenet, the spy agency said on Saturday. … The CIA received separate requests for its release from Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who heads the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. A spokeswoman for Roberts was not immediately available for comment.(AP) Agency to close offices at 665 sites: More than a quarter of the nation’s Farm Service Agency offices would close under a plan being pushed by the Agriculture Department. … Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican Agriculture Committee member, said he would look carefully at any plan to close FSA offices in his state to make sure services aren’t reduced, “especially with the high cost of energy already an enormous burden for our farmers and ranchers.”(Des Moines Register) Brasher: Drought, hurricane, fuel prices have farmers looking for assistance: There is still concern, too, that the hit to the southern Louisiana ports could back up barge traffic on the Mississippi River after this fall’s harvest. “A lot of farmers could go by the wayside not because of dry weather but simply because of the increased energy costs,” says Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.Todd Tiahrt links (Wichita Business Journal) Legal community pans bankruptcy reform: On Oct. 17, a new bankruptcy law will go into effect, impacting everyone from business owners to attorneys. … Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas, says the law applies common sense and fair rules to bankruptcy law, a system he says is flawed and costs Americans more money every year. He points to a part of the law that requires debtors to undergo financial training as one of the major benefits of the law.How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here.