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"I want to meet her, because she's going to be vice president."

-- Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, when asked during a meeting with The Eagle editorial board about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' role in his energy plans

"Even when the Legislature is not in session, we're the third-windiest state."

-- Sebelius, who introduced Pickens at a Topeka town hall meeting

"Just look out in the parking lot at all the SUVs."

Kansans were shocked to learn of the tragic murder of Jana Mackey on July 3. Mackey, 25, was a second-year law student at the University of Kansas who grew up in Hays. She was found dead in the home of her ex-boyfriend, Adolfo Garcia-Nunez, who was eventually apprehended in New Jersey and committed suicide while in custody.

Citizens must be outraged not only by this homicide but all the domestic violence homicides that occur in our state. The Governor's Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board will expedite the review of the case.

In October 2004, through executive order, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius created the board to review all adult fatalities related to domestic violence in the state and recommend improvements to prevent future fatalities.

There are no words to ease the pain or help the family and friends of Jana -- or other family members who lose their loved ones to domestic violence -- understand their tragic loss. We must find a way in which future domestic violence crimes can be stopped.

Jana's case involves the recent release from parole supervision of the alleged offender. Policies and guidelines should be considered to ensure proper and intensive supervision of parolees, particularly where there is a history of domestic violence.

What would happen if you put together T. Boone Pickens, the green billionaire Texas oilman now obsessed with wind power, and Shai Agassi, the Jewish Henry Ford now obsessed with making Israel the world's leader in electric cars?

You'd have the start of an energy revolution.

Agassi, 40, is an Israeli software whiz kid who rose to the senior ranks of the German software giant SAP. He gave it all up in 2007 to help make Israel a model of how an entire country can get off gasoline and onto electric cars. He figured no country has a bigger interest in diminishing the value of Middle Eastern oil than Israel.

On a visit to Israel in May, I took a spin in a parking lot on the Tel Aviv beachfront in Agassi's prototype electric car, while his sister watched out for the cops because it is not yet licensed for Israeli roads.

Agassi's plan, backed by Israel's government, is to create a complete electric car "system" that will work much like a mobile-phone service "system," only customers sign up for so many monthly miles instead of minutes. Every subscriber will get a car, a battery and access to a national network of recharging outlets all across Israel -- as well as garages that will swap your dead battery for a fresh one whenever needed.

You may have read or heard about the recent Reader's Digest report that ranked states according to their driving laws (July 28 Eagle). It was no surprise that Kansas was among the worst.

Statistics confirm what the Reader's Digest study shows. Automobile accidents are by far the biggest killer of teenagers in Kansas -- more than homicides and suicides combined.

In 2007, according to Kansas Department of Transportation statistics, among drivers 14 to 17, there were nearly 8,400 accidents and 37 fatalities. There were more than 3,500 injured in those crashes. Total cost of those accidents involving young drivers was $337 million.

In Kansas, teenagers as young as 14 -- and not just those who live or work on farms -- can get driving permits. Given today's traffic, speeds and distractions, that's far too young to put an inexperienced person behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Phil Keys, whose son and best friend were killed in a one-car crash near Mulvane in 2006, said that no matter how much they practice, teenagers can't take driving for granted. "Once they get behind the wheel and you start throwing cell phones and fast food and conversations and weather and bad roads into the equation, there's no way you can have them totally ready," Keys said.

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence will present a program titled "Reforming the U.S. Health Care System: Supporting the Role of Individuals." The invitation-only event runs from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. Monday, when Dole will preside over a series of panels consisting of mostly Midwestern academics, foundation gurus and health administrators.

This event is co-sponsored by the institute and the Bipartisan Policy Center, which was founded last year and headlines four former U.S. Senate majority leaders, Republicans Dole and Howard Baker and Democrats George Mitchell and Tom Daschle. Their salutary goal is to find bipartisan acceptable solutions for problems like energy, environment and health care, and then pass them on to their old colleagues for implementation.

The role of individual responsibility in protecting one's own health is not controversial. How to get people to lose weight, exercise, have periodic medical checkups and follow healthy lifestyles is controversial. It involves questions like how much public money to spend, and the roles reimbursed health care providers should play in educating and supporting individuals.

To the extent "supporting the role of individuals" means helping them establish healthy living, the conference can and should have plenty to say.

To the extent "supporting the role of individuals" means helping people prudently shop for health insurance and health care, agreement is far less likely. Making prudent purchases in our complicated health care milieu is difficult at best and impossible at worst.