Keep church separate

My strong right to choose position is based on my total acceptance of the premise of separation of church and state. The Catholic Church is up in arms about having birth control required for employees of its sponsored organizations.

Yet these same organizations take federal funds — my money. Then there is the matter of tax exemptions.

If churches cannot keep their voices out of politics, trying to make their religious beliefs the law of the land, then there should be no tax exemption.

Separation of church and state!

Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state!

Idabelle Hardy

Overland Park

Voter IDs in Kansas

I am glad Kansas is smart enough to have a voter identification requirement. Protecting the integrity of elections is essential.

The left blames voter IDs for preventing minorities and the poor from voting, which is wrong. Where there is a will, there is a way for responsible citizens to vote.

Judicial oversight forced Florida to clean up its voter rolls, which resulted in removing thousands of people from the rolls. Wisconsin found it had allowed felons to vote who were on its rolls.

ACORN is another classic example of voter problems. The integrity of the elections should be protected, and whoever wins should win the elections honestly.

Joyce Patterson

Marysville, Kan.

Faux justice in U.S.

Almost every day in the news are threats of lawsuits about religious activities or about one race over the other one. We have enough on our plate and too much dissent about small things.

I am tired of what is supposed to be justice but is only a sham.

Paul W. Meyn Sr.

Overland Park

Democrat backers

The Kathleen Parker column in The Star (9-10, A11, “Activism posing as news is a scourge on body politic”) hit the nail on the head, labeling MSNBC the proud No. 1 cheerleader for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

Ms. Parker also could have included The Kansas City Star in that category, considering the editorial published by The Star on Sept. 8 (A16, “Party stars, missteps and missing in action”). Does The Star’s editorial board really believe it should be Emperor Obama?

Russ Warren

Nevada, Mo.

Chiefs struggle again

Congratulations Scott Pioli.

Under the direction of Clark Hunt, it took just four years to produce a team as bad as any we’ve seen in Kansas City.

The only constant in all these years without a Super Bowl appearance or a playoff win in 15 years is the Hunt family.

James Stanley

Kansas City

Compromise in U.S.

Conservatives have done well politically in recent years, taking over states, getting the Bushes elected president and controlling Congress. But then there was Bill Clinton for eight years and Barack Obama for four — maybe eight years.

Conservatives think when they lose it’s an aberration, that a majority of Americans were duped. They were ecstatic when Sarah Palin burst upon the scene, unaware of the mighty ho-hum from the rest of us. More excitement followed with Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate for president. Ho-hum.

They can’t understand that about half of America loathes their ideas and that demographics may be working against them. The solid South is not so solid anymore.

Many young people aren’t so disapproving of gays. Women often find conservatives, well, Neanderthal on their issues. Hispanics know their enemies.

Maybe the conservative tide has crested. If Obama wins a second term, they’ll swear again how we’ve been duped.

I say, wake up. Half of America doesn’t particularly like you. Live with it.

Accept that your reality is not the reality of much of America. Compromise some for the greater harmony of all.

Stop waging war on those who differ with you.

Paul J. Potts

Overland Park

Obamacare benefits

The GOP wants you to believe the Affordable Care Act is bad for small businesses.

I own a small business. I recently received a $2,400 refund from my health insurance provider for the year 2011. This refund will make it easier for me to continue to provide insurance for my 10 employees and their families.

The Affordable Care Act is good for my small business.

Stephen Gordon, D.O.

Leawood

GOP abortion platform

The Republican National Convention platform committee denies any form of abortion, be it in the case of rape (forcible, date, gang, spousal, statutory, prison or by any other name), incest or to save a mother’s health.

But not to worry. The Republicans have a solution. They plan to provide chastity belts for all females age 13 and up.

Of course, the only males with keys will be Republican Party members who have been duly neutered.

William R. Park Sr.

Shawnee

Protect women’s rights

Is the dislike so deep for President Barack Obama that women will actually vote against their own interests? Are women actually willing to give up their rights for this?

The Republican Party convention platform includes banning abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Earlier this year, Republicans voted down a bill that would grant equal pay for women.

They voted down the Lilly Ledbetter Act that would allow a woman to sue for pay discrimination. They have voted numerous times to defund Planned Parenthood.

Republicans voted along party lines for the Blunt amendment, which would have allowed employers to deny a women insurance coverage for birth control or any procedure they disagreed with.

Women should realize that this is what the Republican Party endorses, and it is their rights that would be taken away. How do you vote against your own rights?

Karen Lane

Overland Park

Obama for president

So Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney went overseas for a week and visited three countries. Now he calls himself a statesman.

What a fraud and what a joke. Let us be careful who we vote for in the next election. We don’t want the ultra-right wingers financed by the Koch brothers to run our country.

As for me, I’m sticking with President Barack Obama.

Gloria Schlossenberg

Overland Park

Obama, Biden, McCaskill

Not being the fervent political activist in our house, I enjoy the luxury of being able to choose to vote for the people I like. They are candidates whose personalities align with my sensibilities and with whom I could feel comfortable exchanging ideas.

These are people who seem reasonable and thoughtful, not driven by extreme positions that exclude the possibility of polite discussion.

This is not the “cold hard facts” approach to selecting the people who will represent me in government, but it leads me to those who clearly have values in line with mine. Fortunately, and in the interest of domestic tranquility, that easily directs my choices to Barack Obama and Joe Biden on the presidential ticket and the re-election of Sen. Claire McCaskill and vehemently against the right-wing ideologues of the once-respectable Republican Party.

Not only do I relate to these three intellectually, I think their positions on the critical issues that need wise consideration in Washington, D.C., are right for the country at this dangerous intersection of competing philosophies.

Steve Sherry

Kansas City

Push for healthy meals

With the start of the new school year, parents’ attention is turning to school clothes, supplies and lunches. Yes, school lunches.

Traditionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had used the National School Lunch Program as a dumping ground for surplus meat and dairy commodities.

Not surprisingly, its own surveys indicate that children consume excessive amounts of animal fat and sugary drinks, to the point one-third have become overweight or obese.

Their early dietary flaws become lifelong addictions, raising their risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Gradually, the tide is turning. The new USDA school-lunch guidelines mandated by President Barack Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act require doubling the servings of fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less sodium and fat and no meat for breakfast.

Still, food lobbyists have prevailed on Congress to count pizza and french fries as vegetables, and fatty mystery meats and sugary dairy drinks abound.

Parents and students should consider healthy school lunches as a work in progress and insist on healthful plant-based school meals, snacks and vending machine items. Guidance is available at www.fns.usda.gov/cnd, www.healthyschoollunches.org and www.vrg.org/family.

Brittany Fletcher

Kansas City