Wisconsin, then U.S.

Great Scotts! Just as Scott Brown’s 2010 Senate victory in Massachusetts foretold the Republican rout later that year, so Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s win is but a foretaste of the November election’s likely result (6-6, A1, “Walker survives ouster effort”).

Polls come and go. But when a Republican governor, in a Democratic state that Barack Obama carried in 2008, wins big, it shows how overwhelming our victory later this year will be.

Add to these facts the high turnout in Wisconsin, and the handwriting is clearly on the wall for President Obama.

Larry and

Cynthia McCallister

Overland Park

They got Wisconsin. What state will the Republican donors buy next?

Paul Budd

Sugar Creek

Job search struggles

In my 20 years of being in the workforce, I never thought I would see all of the hiring discrimination going on in the metropolitan area.

I have seen many people I know in their early 50s who can’t get jobs that pay even a third of what they were accustomed to making. I guess all the recruiters and hiring managers just want to hire the young candidates who they think will settle for low wages.

Do they just automatically assume that older workers are too slow?

Do they think older workers will just leave as soon as they find something paying better?

These are assumptions that recruiters make.

I wish these young recruiters would lose their jobs so they could go to job fairs and have to fill out all the online applications and have problems with them and feel the frustrations that applicants deal with.

Older workers have already proved themselves.

John Thomas

Prairie Village

Place-holder election

Any woman who cares about her reproductive rights, breaking through the glass ceiling and so on should find it hypocritical to even consider voting for a candidate backed by the religious right and their partners in backward thinking, the tea party.

I am dumbfounded by the logic these people apply to the idea of being true conservatives. True conservatives who want less government control in business and their personal lives would never tolerate the government dictating what women should be able to do with their bodies, or for that matter what anyone does in the privacy of her own home as long as it is not infringing on the rights of others.

A male majority telling a woman what she can and can’t do when it comes to her reproductive rights boggles the mind.

To all women who are going to vote in the general election, try to keep these facts in mind. If not, the other side will not only control your body but will slowly but surely destroy the very rights women have worked so hard to prove that their place in society is just as important as men’s.

Steven Addison

Kansas City

Road rage at DMV

To do business with the Kansas Division of Motor Vehicles in Johnson County, you must either wait in line for who knows how long or call for an appointment, again a lengthy wait. This leads to some questions.

Who is responsible for this debacle? Is it a contractor or the government bureaucrat who approved the contract? We need more public information about this matter.

Should government whipsaw the public with no accountability? The media need to do a better job informing the public and put more light on government inefficiencies.

Was the secretary of revenue involved in approving the contract? Who else was involved?

Were there sweetheart deals or kickbacks? News media need to investigate.

The voters will not forget and will hold someone accountable at the voting machines.

Mike Lomaka

Olathe

Responsible leaders

Today, two of our Missouri lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are such an embarrassment to state residents.

First, there’s Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who cannot even run his own business. Yet he’s representing Missouri residents in Washington.

Who will get stuck for his business failure?

Then there is Sen. Claire McCaskill. She cannot manage her own personal accounting.

Anyone who cannot pay her own taxes (on time) should not be in charge of the public business. We need to elect responsible people who have a good working knowledge of business and budgeting.

Let’s bring responsible leadership back.

Karen Sturgeon

Lee’s Summit

Hatfields, McCoys feud

I recently watched the very interesting miniseries on the History Channel about the Hatfields and McCoys. Although I enjoyed it thoroughly and found it to be accurate historically (from what I have read about the subject), I was saddened when we saw the end of the concluding episode. Why, you might ask?

Well, it occurred to me that after three nights of advertising for such History Channel regulars like “Pawn Stars” and “American Pickers,” as well as the new season of “Ice Road Truckers,” I didn’t feel I needed another reminder.

What I expected to see on the final night was a scroll of the credits at a speed I could follow. What I got was another ad for History Channel programming with the credits so small and moving at such a speed they could not be read.

How awful it must feel to someone who worked on the film to have his work disregarded in such a way. The History Channel has sunk to a new low.

David Crawford

Shawnee

Visiting state capital

Recently I read a blog post that talked about schools cutting their yearly trips to Jefferson City.

For fourth-graders at my school, our trip to Jefferson City was something we looked forward to all year.

Before the trip, many of us are excited about spending a day out of the classroom. But we realize that Jefferson City holds much more.

I do not think going to Jefferson City is a waste of money. I think that by having this trip taken away, students would be missing out on an experience of a lifetime.

When I was in Jefferson City, I learned a lot about the mural Thomas Hart Benton painted. I saw how different life has been for generations of Missourians.

While there I learned a lot about the different rooms, buildings and places that make our government.

I realized that people years ago didn’t wear very comfortable clothes. But that was the least of their worries.

This trip lines up with curriculum that we learned in fourth grade.

Now let’s get serious. At the beginning I told you that Jefferson City is not a waste of money. Hopefully, after everything I’ve written, more people will understand why.

Everyone should be able to see Missouri’s government in action.

Anna Knittig

Kansas City

Cleaning up America

In my years I have seen plenty of changes to my beloved country. I served in the military during the Vietnam War because of my pride of being American. But things aren’t right anymore.

This country is beset with a cancerous corporate greed, substandard schools, anemic veterans programs, a convoluted tax system, failed drug policies, overfunded lobbyists, the misguided American Civil Liberties Union, blundering politically correct military leaders and especially these shameful elitist career politicians. That’s not how our nation was designed or intended.

The two parties are now individually too dysfunctional to work together for the common good. It’s enough to make our Founding Fathers puke.

We need a radical change, easily accomplished by this simple slogan: “Clean up government; re-elect no one.”

Politicians and diapers should be changed often and for the same reason. Two terms or eight years maximum, period.

There should be absolutely no perks. Do this out of your professed love of America.

Wasn’t that simple?

Earl Boutell

Leawood

Stranger’s kindness

I have a sister with Down syndrome and work with individuals with developmental disabilities. As a result I have many friends with cerebral palsy, autism and Down syndrome.

On a recent evening, I was having dinner with this group of friends at Winstead’s on 81st Street and Metcalf Avenue. This was a rather spontaneous dinner before our monthly bunko group at a nearby church.

As we were finishing dinner and paying, a stranger insisted on paying the bill for more than a dozen meals. I want that person to know that he made a big impression on these ladies who were just out for a fun evening.

The stranger’s act of kindness will make ripples with this group, and the women will in turn “pay it forward” to others. Although we didn’t know the man, his kindness will be reflected in the faces of other strangers.

This individual did a good thing, and I thank him.

Lois Bakely Ferguson

Overland Park