The Supreme Court rules in favor of white firefighters from New Haven, Conn., in a decision earlier this week. Critics of affirmative action claim it's a victory. But it's a Pyrrhic victory, because the real story of the case is employers are exposed to lawsuits from every direction today. Employers have to operate in a climate of fear regarding affirmative action today. When New Haven threw out employment tests because they feared the low-scoring African-American candidates would sue for discrimination if they didn't, they opened themselves up to a lawsuit by white job candidates, which is exactly what they got. The court ruled that throwing out the test was reverse discrimination. The court got that right. But they missed the bigger picture here. The question to be answered is how exactly is an employer supposed to avoid a lengthy and expensive lawsuit when any action invites a legal response from either side? Employers are damned if they do and damned if they don't anymore. Of course, in this economy, there are no jobs to offer, so maybe it's a moot point.

Sanford's downfall

One guy who GOP insiders were starting to rally behind for 2012 is Mark Sanford. Emphasis on "were." By concocting a bizarre story to go visit his girlfriend and then getting caught in an affair, Sanford's chances of getting the GOP nomination are about the same as Hillary Clinton's. I wonder if he really thought he could get away with it, in which case he's dumber than he's been given credit for.

It's not over yet

With a new fiscal quarter coming, it can only mean more impending revenue shortfalls. Gov. Mark Parkinson likely will have to trim spending as state income is expected to be about $130 million shy of the budget. Of course, it could be worse: Indiana, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, California and Arizona are all issuing IOUs or facing a possible government shutdown because their state legislators and governors cannot come to agreement on solving their budget problems. So it could be worse.

Chapman Rackaway is an associate professor of political science at Fort Hays State University.