Pat Roberts links (National Review Online commentary) Who Will Defend the Defenders? These new scholarships are named after Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts (R., Kan.). Graduate students receive up to $25,000 a year for their studies, in exchange for a promise to serve in an intelligence agency for at least 18 months after graduation. The identities of Roberts Scholars are not made public, and this has provided leftist professors with a pretext to oppose the program. (Wichita Eagle) Roberts tells rural water group he’ll guard funds: Sen. Pat Roberts promised Kansas Rural Water Association members that he will fight to keep money for programs, loans and grants to sustain rural water districts in the federal budget. Roberts said he has sent letters to other senators supporting their efforts to maintain funding for rural water circuit riders who maintain systems, as well as for grants and loans to repair existing systems and build new ones. (Salon.com) Finding fault: A final analysis of the intelligence fiasco over Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction released Thursday focuses blame on the CIA and other spy agencies, largely clearing the White House and the Pentagon of allegations that they shaped the intelligence to justify the invasion, according to early accounts of the report. … A Senate inquiry into political manipulation of intelligence, postponed until after the November elections, now appears to have been quietly dropped by its Republican chairman, Pat Roberts. Sam Brownback links (Newsday commentary) Schiavo case: Should government pay? One impact of Schiavo has been the knitting together of conservative Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, into a common cause: weaving a seamless “culture of life.” … Meanwhile, other costly strange-bedfellow alliances are being created. On March 16, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the dean of liberalism in the U.S. Senate, teamed up with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) to co-sponsor the Prenatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act. The purpose of the bill is to gather and distribute information about birth defects detected in utero. How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here.