Andanh.com

In the never-ending battles between the Bush administration's pragmatists and uberhawks, the U.S. decision to de-list North Korea from the terrorism blacklist marked a huge defeat of the Vice President Dick Cheney and a victory for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

But this was a deal that could, and should, have been done at the beginning of Bush's first term. As John Bolton, our former United Nations ambassador and a harsh critic of the deal rightly said, this deal is "the same thing that the State Department was prepared to do six years ago. If we are going to cut this deal now, it's amazing we didn't cut it back then."

It was not done then because Cheney's views were then ascendant. In the meantime, North Korea became a dangerous nuclear power.

Now, with their legacies in mind, Rice finally convinced the president they should try to change North Korean behavior through painstaking diplomacy, rather than pursue the chimera of regime change.

Bush's change of heart has infuriated Republican superhawks. "This is a sad, sad day," said Bolton. "I think we've been taken to the cleaners."

I do not believe nation-building in Iraq is going to be the issue come November -- whether things get better there or worse. I think nation-building in America is going to be the issue.

It's the state of America now that is the most gripping source of anxiety for Americans, not al-Qaida or Iraq. Anyone who thinks they are going to win this election playing the Iraq or the terrorism card -- one way or another -- is, in my view, seriously deluded. Things have changed.

Up to now, the economic crisis we've been in has been largely a credit crisis in the capital markets, while consumer spending has kept reasonably steady, as have manufacturing and exports. But with banks still reluctant to lend even to healthy businesses, fuel and food prices soaring and home prices declining, this is starting to affect consumers, shrinking their wallets and crimping spending. Unemployment is already creeping up and manufacturing creeping down.

The straws in the wind are hard to ignore: If you visit most car dealerships in America today you will see row after row of unsold SUVs. And if you own a gas guzzler already, good luck.

On top of it all, our bank crisis is not over. Two weeks ago, Goldman Sachs analysts said that U.S. banks may need another $65 billion to cover more write-downs of bad mortgage-related instruments and potential new losses if consumer loans start to buckle. Since President Bush came to office, our national savings have gone from 6 percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent, and consumer debt has climbed from $8 trillion to $14 trillion.

The Old Town Warren Theatre partners informed the city of Wichita last November that the theater was losing money. They proposed that the city refinance their current loan and loan them additional dollars. The refinancing would allow the addition of another screen and conference space. One of the main problems is overhead costs. This will help by providing economies of scale.

The partners stated that their bankers wouldn't loan them the money because the interest rate would be too high to put the theater in a positive financial position. They told us that if the city could not help them out, the theater would close.

We felt that it was imperative that the Old Town Warren stay open.

The Old Town Cinema Redevelopment Project was created in 1999. The city invested more than $9.4 million in land acquisition and construction of public improvements in the cinema area. At the time the project was created, city staff and City Council members believed it was a sound business decision for the city and would help move our city forward. The Old Town area has become one of the city's main tourist venues and continues to attract new workers to Wichita.

The $9.4 million worth of infrastructure improvements were financed with bonds that are backed by a tax increment financing district. Under a TIF, the additional property taxes generated by new development are used to repay bonds. No dollars go to private developers. When the TIF expires, the additional property taxes are distributed to all three local government entities. The city's share is approximately 27 percent of the total.