Matt Schofield

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Thank God for Sgt. Kimberly Munley.

The civilian officer at Fort Hood brought down Maj. Nidal M. Hasan with "an amazing and an aggressive performance."

The Star's Saturday editorial

There were warning signs that U.S. Army Major Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was unstable long before he allegedly shouted “God is great” in Arabic and opened fire at Fort Hood Thursday.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt makes an interesting point in a press release today;

"You can drive up to any gas station in the country, and they can immediately figure more out about your car than a doctor knows about a patient."

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt has joined the GOP chorus chiding President Barack Obama about sending Swine Flu vaccine to Guantanamo detainees, when the vaccine is in such short supply.

Blunt has a point. But it's a public relations point, not a substanitive one.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill's reaction to the announcement that President Barack Obama was been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

McCaskill is an admitted admirer of Obama, and was an early and important supporter of his presidential campaign.

Her comments:

"Today is an interesting moment for America to reflect on how the world view of our country has changed because of this president.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

So, Barack Obama, nine months into his presidency, has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Does he deserve it?

The obvious answer is yes.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

None of our four area senators will be showing up at soup kitchens soon. So stop worrying.

Only Claire McCaskill pops up on the Senates' elite list, the 11 worth more than $10 million ( a list that includes John Kerry (think Heinz) and Jay Rockefeller (think Rockefeller).

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

The common belief around Kansas City is that no one walks or pedals a bike.

Kansas City is a car town, and will remain one, and should remain one, is the logic.
The city is too spread out, too hilly, too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, for any outdoor mode of transport.

That's not totally true, of course.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Osama bin Laden has issued some advice to Europeans:

The world vilest human notes: "an intelligent man does not waste his money and sons for a gang of criminals in Washington."

And then he goes on to note:

The Star's Saturday editorial

The facts are in: Despite a summer of denials, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s office knew almost immediately about dangerously high bacteria levels in late May in the Lake of the Ozarks.

Top Nixon aides, however, didn’t move to make that information public quickly enough.

The Star's Friday editorial

The current nationwide terrorism warnings serve as a good reminder: International terrorism hasn’t gone away, and won’t go away.

The Star's Wednesday editorial

True, caveats came attached to the good news that arrived in driveways and on computer screens Wednesday. But after the year this city has just been through, we’ll take good news in whatever form it arrives.

So, the good news:

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

The racism chatter has started again.

Missouri's Roy Blunt is in the center of it this time, with a speech to the religiously conservative Family Research Council. It started because he used a tale involving golf and monkeys.

The Star's Wednesday Editorial

Kansas and Missouri must pass statewide smoking bans, and the sooner the better.

Bans have immediate positive effects on heart attack rates, with heart attacks falling by at least 17 percent one year after passage and by more than a third after three years.

The Star's Tuesday Editorial

The community organization ACORN is not the boogeyman of American politics, but its problems are serious enough that Congress must suspend its financial support and fully investigate.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

In case you'd been losing sleep wondering just who would get Sen. John McCain's support in the race for Sen. Sam Brownback's seat in Kansas when he steps down in 2010, the answer is in:

U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

The match of the year in the wide world of chess pits ... Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Uhm, haven't we seen this before?

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial columnist

We've seen this before, and we will see it again: American officials warning that Afghanistan is a problem.

The answer, sadly, is that the answers aren't in more troops, or better tactics. The answers are found in history: Failure is inevitable.

By Matt Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Everything we need to know about life in the nation's Capitol today was summed up as some yahoo yelled out either "Liar" or "Why?" as President Barack Obama Wednesday night sought to correct misunderstandings about his health care plan.

By Matt Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

The idea of bringing the World Cup seems far off because it is far off.

Even if Kansas City is included in a United States bid, the earliest the games would actually be played at Arrowhead Stadium would be summer 2018 (if not summer 2022).

By Matt Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Let’s get this out of the way first: I like soccer.

I like it a lot. Therefore, I’m quite excited that Kansas City is still being considered as a host city for future World Cup games.

If you’re inclined to think that real sports are played only with hands or bats or clubs, well, I can’t agree with you.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Pakistan's Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was given complete freedom Friday.

Now, this hardly puts anyone at immediate risk. Khan, after all, is a scientist, a nuclear scientist. By all accounts, he's brilliant.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Here's a central problem with the notion of accountability in the matter of CIA interrogations:

It's never going to come. Not really.

It's easy for President Barack Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder to note that the facts of these practices were worse than first thought, and need further scrutiny.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist

The World's biggest sporting event may be coming to Kansas City.

Of course, a lot will have to happen between now and 2018 for that to happen. First, the United States will have to officially decide to include Kansas City in it's bid to host the month-long event.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist

The repressive family law that just went into effect in Afghanistan, at least, should make us pause to consider whether there is a good outcome in that nation.

By Matt Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

I don’t have the slightest idea how to construct a working health care system that will protect all Americans.

I do, however, have a bit of insight into how private insurance works in a country with national health care. The private overseas insurers I’ve lived with have been pretty impressive.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

Former Iranian members of parliament have asked the nation's clerical panel whether the Supreme Leader is fit to rule.

It's a very bold move, and brings up the question of whether the summer election protests might not have brought about some institutional change in the strict Islamic nation.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

Closing Guantanamo is a no brainer. It has to be done.

Now, how do it, that's a problem.

Earlier this week, I pointed out some problems the British legal and human rights group Reprieve had found with the terror prison in regards to complying with the Geneva Conventions.

By Matt Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial columnist

It's been called the "prostitute poster" by critics, and clever campaigning by fans.

But a couple things are pretty clear: Vera Lengsfeld's campaign for a parliamentary seat for Berlin got a definite boost from a bit of chest thumping.

And a rather boring election just got a little hotter.

By Matt Schofield. Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist

The United States continues to violate the Geneva Conventions at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.