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Kathleen Sebelius was raised to be a Catholic and elected to be a governor. A church leader is turning that into an uncomfortable intersection.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., is requesting that Sebelius choose between his will and the oath she swore to govern the state of Kansas to the best of her ability.

Put another way, her choice is this: Sign anti-abortion legislation that is an affront to patient privacy, constitutional rights and good government, or cease receiving Communion.

In a column published in the archdiocesan newspaper the Leaven, Naumann chastised Sebelius for her recent veto of a bill that legislators titled the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act.

Naumann described the bill as an attempt to "protect women" considering abortion by making sure they are well-informed about the development of the fetus they are carrying and alternatives to terminating their pregnancy.

"The pro-coal forces seem to come from the Hillary Clinton school of never give up."

-- Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, on the prospects of yet-another legislative attempt to OK new coal plants near Holcomb

"If we all had been better economic developers in the past, perhaps both of my children would not be earning their living in Colorado."

-- Steve Miller, Sunflower Electric Power Corp. spokesman, on why the state needs the coal plants

"There's a hypocrisy to this that's a little bit breath-taking."

I grew up in Southern California. Though I love it there and I love to visit every now and then, the air quality is legendary -- and not in a good way.

The smog is as much a part of Los Angeles as Hollywood. Government environmental regulation, out of necessity, is thick. There are restrictions on just about every facet of life -- home, business and recreation.

And it's not just in L.A. Ask the residents of any major metropolis along the East Coast or in the industrial areas of the North.

In the early 1980s, after the closure of some of the steel mills in Pittsburgh, Pa., a major project of local leaders was to clean the city's buildings that had turned black with soot. Car owners in Atlanta and many other large cities have to pass annual emission inspections to drive anywhere in the metropolitan region. In Europe, efforts are under way to protect irreplaceable monuments and statues from the destructive effects of air pollution. The list goes on.

Here in Kansas, we have yet to face the serious issues of deteriorating air quality. But the time to act is now.

One way of measuring the current state of the Republican Party is to note that in the past 10 weeks, 55 years of Republican seniority in the House of Representatives were wiped out in three special elections.

Another gauge is that President Bush's 31 percent job approval score in this month's Washington Post poll is one of the lowest ever recorded for a chief executive.

However one measures it, this is surely the springtime of the GOP's discontent.

There's no telling what may happen between now and Nov. 4, but we know that John McCain is bucking a powerful headwind as he seeks the White House, while Barack Obama (or maybe Hillary Clinton) can enjoy at least a favoring breeze.

The situation is reminiscent of 1980. Six months before that election, it was evident that the country had grown weary of Jimmy Carter and his administration. What remained to be determined was the degree of comfort voters felt with Ronald Reagan as his successor. Would Reagan be seen as a B-movie actor and TV host, peddling eccentric and maybe dangerous notions? Or as someone who had governed California successfully for eight years and could restore some sanity to a dysfunctional Washington, D.C.? Once he delivered the necessary reassurances, the election was over.

I was very troubled when I read the article regarding House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, and his view on this year's legislative session ("Speaker: Economic bills were session's highlight," May 14 Eagle). In particular, I was disappointed with the speaker's continued disregard for the truth when he said that Hyperion developers, who have considered building a refinery in northeast Kansas, "were told they'd never get a permit."

No member of this administration has ever communicated this message to Hyperion. On the contrary, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's communications with the company, both verbally and in writing, were positive and reassuring.

In a letter to Hyperion dated Feb. 11, 2008, I very clearly reassured company executives that there was no regulatory uncertainty in Kansas. Though I could not fulfill the company's request for an unconditional guarantee to issue a permit prior to reviewing its application, I did reiterate KDHE's commitment for a fair, timely review of any potential application. And I said that if the company's permit application mirrored the permit application it had filed in South Dakota and adhered to the company's public commitment to the environment, a permit would most likely be issued.

This is not the first time Neufeld has tried to mislead Kansans in regard to this issue.

To be clear: There is no "regulatory uncertainty" in Kansas. KDHE has continued to issue timely air-quality permits. Since the denial of the Sunflower Electric Power Corp. permit for a proposed coal-fired plant near Holcomb, KDHE has issued more than 300 air-quality construction and operating permits. Since January 2003, the agency has issued more than 3,000 air-quality permits. Under this administration, the only air-quality permit denied has been the Sunflower permit.