Don't Look Now... But Caving Is Imminent

I am just going to get out my I-Told-You-So sandwich board and parade through the streets of Kansas.

I KNEW if legislators were called back to Topeka, they'd surrender like the French in the face of mild German aggression. Actually, they're lamer than the French. At least the French actually passed out weapons and acted like they might use them.

The members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committee sound like they're about to pass out of committee a "recommendation" that Kansans just pony up $38 million. 

Guys, this is a loser. A major loser in every way you slice it. The liberals and moderates get to say I told you so. (Least of my worries, really.) Their campaigns can now count on a conservative backlash. Seriously, I keep adding to the races on my ballot that I'm going to have to leave blank. I'll go to the polls, because I haven't missed one since the 1990s, but I may turn in an unmarked ballot. If conservative legislators are looking for a way to depress conservative turnout, they may have just landed on it with this crazy plan. Perhaps most offensive in this entire episode is that now it's not just school children who will be held endlessly hostage by this charade of a Kansas (Kangaroo) Supreme Court; now all public institutions can just run up the Court chain seeking more and more funding. It's only a matter of time before the Kansas Department of Transportation or the Kansas Department for Children and Families sues the state for more money. The taxpayers will be soaked--even more than we already have been-- with no end in sight. This consolidates a dangerous, dangerous precedent, in which the people have no say in how much of their money is spent or where it goes.

These boneheads are going to try to tie this new school spending to a Constitutional Amendment. I am all for the amendment, but there is a (tiny) risk that it fails before voters. And even if a proposed amendment doesn't pass, if the Legislature solidifies a precedence to turn over all funding decisions to the Court, it will not longer matter whether the unelected ambulance chasers selected by secret committee have the authority to actually close buildings. They won't need it! (Ahem. They STILL can't actually close buildings, but I guess the educrats could essentially go on strike and hide behind the skirts of the kangaroo court).

Seriously, Kansans, just hand over your wallets. Turn in the keys to your house, and start looking for a place to move. Florida or Texas sound nice this time of year.