Pari-mutuel gambling
Those western Kansas legislators (who still think that they can legislate morality) didn’t want pari-mutuel betting in the first place.I used to whine about driving 40 miles each way to the Woodlands. But now, two or three times each year, I drive 204 miles each way to Bluff’s Run in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to enjoy the derby and the breeders cup. Iowa likes my tax money.What would the more than 200 jobs lost when the Woodlands closed be worth to Kansas, today? Missouri will never wake up to simulcast betting. We don’t need the tax revenue. However, we can have several casinos.I would hope that more people would remind the Kansas Legislature that greed is a terrible thing.Ben D. Brite
Lee’s Summit
E-tax wrong for KCThe Star’s Sept. 29 editorial, “Voters spoke: Don’t kill e-tax or hike debt levy,” criticized outgoing Kansas City Federal Reserve chairman Tom Hoenig for recommending that Kansas City eliminate its earnings tax. The editorial stated Dr. Hoenig’s comments weren’t backed up with facts.All the “facts” Dr. Hoenig needs is that as a PhD economist who has spent 38 years with the Kansas City Fed, he knows that Kansas City’s earnings tax harms economic growth in the city. Studies document the harm local earnings taxes have on economic growth, including three relating to Kansas City by Missouri’s Show-Me Institute (which did recommend a way to replace the tax). Even though a large majority of Kansas City voters chose to keep the tax, that does not prove those studies or Dr. Hoenig wrong. It proves that the people of Kansas City wanted to keep the tax for a variety of reasons, which is entirely their right.But good economics and popular public policy don’t always go together, which is exactly what Dr. Hoenig has been trying to warn us about at the national level for the last three years as well.David Stokes
Policy Analyst
Show-Me Institute
St. Louis
KC schools’ costly pastBefore moving my family to the Kansas City area in 1984, we asked about schools. We were told to avoid the Kansas City School District. Fast forward to 2011, and we have seen the school district spend and waste millions and more millions on court costs, legal fees, administration costs, costs racked up looking for new administrators, costs racked up getting rid of administrators and more administration costs.If just a fraction of that money had actually been spent on the children and their education, Kansas City would have a school district to be proud of. The school boards that have been in place and the parents owe the children a major apology.David Bartlett
Kansas City
KC Chiefs need LuckDear Santa:My only wish this year is for you to bring Andrew Luck, the Stanford quarterback, to Kansas City (9/28, B6, “Chiefs could be out of Luck”). We have suffered long enough.Justin Kirn
Greenwood
Overblown coverageI must ask and plead with The Kansas City Star to stop your anti-Catholic schadenfreude. The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) organization certainly does not deserve the Sept. 25 big front-page headline, “Voice for victims,” and lengthy article rehashing all the old and tired stories of abuse by priests.The Star should consider showing a little mercy, please.James B. Pretz, M.D.
Kansas City, Kan.
Hasty Obama jobs billThe president pushes his jobs bill and exhorts Congress to “pass it right way.”Is that not putting the cart before the horse? By telling Congress to pass a jobs bill, does that make Congress just a rubber stamp for the legislative branch, oops — the executive branch, er, the execulative branch? Who are the lawmakers now anyway — the White House or Congress?Should House Speaker John Boehner perhaps have given a speech about a jobs bill made by lawmakers, and then exhorted the Senate to “pass it right away” … and the president to “sign it right away?”Sig Zobans
Independence
Water wasted in KCI sat at my desk on Friday watching water gush from a water main break on Parretta Drive near Front Street. It was running when I got to work at 8:30 a.m. Friday, and when I went to lunch at 11:30 a.m. it was shooting gallons of water into the air. By 2:15 p.m. and despite numerous calls to the Kansas City Water Services Department and to the Fire Department (there is a fire hydrant at the site) the water was still gushing. It continued to shoot into the air until about 3 p.m. when it finally was turned off after more than six and a half hours.I guess because the water department went to monthly billing and increased our bills by about 50 percent, the water department officials don’t have to worry about how much water they lose.Gwen Tardie
Kansas City
Houdini and NorquistGrover Norquist, the Houdini come alive — deception by numbers.Jake Bell
Kansas City
United States of CongressWhen this nation was in its beginning, the Founding Fathers wanted a government that would be of the people, by the people and for the people. It appears that every year the nation went deeper in debt, and now it has a lot of people taking cuts.But the people in Congress, it appears, don’t think that they should take any cuts in their benefits. When will they wake up and see what they have done. It appears that will occur when it’s too late.It appears that since the beginning we have had a government of Congress members, by Congress members and for Congress members.Glenn L. Knapp
Lenexa
Crowd control lackingI was fortunate to be able to attend the grand opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts via a JO bus from Johnson County. I was impressed by the architectural design and the perfect acoustics in the theaters.The only snag we experienced was in crowd management. People had to go outside of the building if they wanted to purchase food at vendors’ booths.One person in our group went outside the building and was refused re-entry at the door he exited. He was told to go to the end of the long line, where people waited more than 90 minutes to enter the building. He boarded our bus and spent the rest of our time there. It seems that a plan should have been in place to prevent this from happening, such as a pass to get back in the building.Warren R. Beach
Shawnee
Poor U.S. governmentI was shocked to hear the Senate has not passed a budget for the last two years. That leads us to the question of the day: How can a country of this size do without a budget for two years?The answer: very poorly.Dennis Tabel
Overland Park
True GOP believersYou have to hand it to the people in the Republican Party. They have learned the value of propaganda — specifically with saying something over and over again not found in fact and accepting it at face value.They use this method in their defense of tax breaks for the rich or the so called “job creators.” President George W. Bush’s tax cuts were passed for this very reason.Give the “job creators” more of their money, and it will trickle down to everyone. Ten years have proven the utter fallacy of this belief. However, the GOP still spouts off like this is a proven fact. The sad thing is this propaganda has created a whole class of working folks who believe this fallacy.Sean E. McDonald
Kansas City
Kudos to KC libraryKansas City is extremely fortunate to be home to one of the finest library systems in the world. Most of us think of libraries as places that check out books. Our library system does that, but it also offers fun exhibits like the collection of old circus posters my wife and I recently enjoyed and lectures by authors and experts in many fields. We’ve learned about the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann and subsequent trial, the march on Selma, Ala., and an ancient king who used poisons to hold his kingship and much more.This is all free to the public and advertised in a color brochure mailed to our home each month. These programs make an inexpensive, entertaining and informative date night. Thanks, Kansas City Public Library.Jerry Carden
Lenexa
