Historic voting fraud

History repeats itself ... maybe.

From 1925 to 1939, Tom Pendergast and the Democratic machine were able to control not just Kansas City but the state of Missouri to the extent that the state Capitol was called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

They did this by inflating the vote in Kansas City to overcome any downstate turnout, influencing the vote of other lawmakers.

The Chicago political machine uses a similar process. I saw this firsthand while living there. No honest person can deny what is going on in that city.

To say that vote fraud does not exist is to say that spousal abuse, child pornography and modern slavery do not exist because we do not see any of these on a daily basis. You do not see them because nobody, until now, wanted to look for them.

My membership in the Friends of the Zoo allows my family to visit the zoo as many times as we want, but it requires me to show a photo identification along with our membership card.

Does the zoo want to depress attendance and prevent the poor and elderly from visiting this fine institution? I think not.

Dick Davenport

Lee’s Summit

Refighting Civil War

Would Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach have really had our nation return to the battles we fought — and settled — in the 19th century?

Are we to refight our Civil War?

Deep South secessionist legislators removed from their 1860 ballots the nominee of the Republican Party for president, Abraham Lincoln. After that fractured national election, those Southern states chose secession, “and the war came,” to quote Lincoln.

Kobach should read the rest of Lincoln’s astounding second inaugural address, and while he’s at it, the Gettysburg Address: “... that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

Would today’s Kansas secretary of state really have had us reconsider the resolution of our 16th president who led us in that cause to national reunification?

Scott Michie

Overland Park

Media-hungry Kobach

The most recent birther debacle has finally come to a close, but Kansas should expect more outrageous antics from our desperate-for-attention secretary of state, Kris Kobach (9-18, A4, “Obama is staying on the ballot in Kansas”).

Kobach is always scheming up a way to inflate any hot-button issue.

This tactic has secured him a position in the national headlines and into the heart of the right-wing fringe.

But how long can the Kansas secretary of state keep it up?

The birther mess may have kept Kobach’s name in the national limelight, but it has brought a great deal of embarrassment to many Kansans by tying our state to yet another of his absurd radical notions.

This embarrassment could’ve been prevented by Kobach when the first birther objection was filed in April 2011 by a Wichitan. Kobach and the board dismissed that case, not because of how ridiculous it was, but because it was filed too early.

Kobach has reached political stardom not by establishing himself as a viable public servant or statesman but by piling up a house of cards made up of media-grabbing, shock-policy and over-the-top tricks.

With an approval rating in the 30s, he should ask himself, “Are the people of Kansas about to pull my card?”

Louis Goseland

Wichita

Help thy neighbor

This is concerning the Sept. 18 article, “Arrests compel cleanup,” on housing violations.

John and Sue Ann Cunningham, who own the house on Warwick Boulevard, were arrested for a housing warrant. If they have lived in this house since the 1970s, they obviously are not young people.

The article said they were both disabled.

Why didn’t the neighborhood association pitch in and help when they saw these people struggling?

Maybe the neighbors couldn’t replace a roof or do electrical work, but they certainly could have pulled weeds and painted.

Are those in the neighborhood association afraid to get their hands dirty?

Sounds like the neighborhood association let the Cunninghams down. If so, shame on them.

Margaret Ferman

Grandview

Romney insults voters

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s assertion that his voters don’t depend on government in the form of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, government-funded infrastructure, business and farm subsidies, the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, airports and air traffic control and more seems to reveal a breathtaking ignorance.

This is the first time in my memory that a presidential candidate has declared, even to his own donors, that he isn’t going to worry about the 47 percent of the electorate who are dependent on government. It’s an interesting political strategy, given that I know the segment of the electorate that has never been dependent on government is dramatically less than 53 percent.

Personally, I find Gov. Romney’s statement to his fundraising fat cats insulting, and I would think a lot of other voters would as well, regardless of party affiliation.

Sam Olson

Overland Park

Obama wrong for U.S.

I’m not really sure what all the fuss is about. Forty-seven percent is a pretty accurate number — at least according to most statisticians.

These include a lot of different categories, of course, and not all of them are going to vote for President Barack Obama.

I am retired, for example, after working for nearly 50 years of my life. I think I have earned my entitlement.

My daughter, who passed away three years ago, was born totally disabled and was supported by both federal and state funds for nearly 30 years.

True, she did not earn her entitlement, but there are few people who would have denied it to her.

The problem, as I see it, is that we have gone from a country that cares for those who cannot care for themselves to one that cares for those who will not care for themselves.

I am one of the 47 percent, but I cannot support an administration that would drive us all into poverty by continuing to increase government handouts — both to individuals and corporations.

There have to be limits.

There is only so much that the middle class can pay before the money runs out.

Stanley E. House

Kansas City

Support for Todd Akin

I don’t know about the rest of you Missouri Republicans, but I am incensed with the Republican National Committee and the Missouri Republican Party for abandoning us over the Todd Akin issue, which has been blown totally out of proportion by the left-wing media.

Akin’s error was simply the choice of a word, for which he has apologized profusely.

How many of us have chosen an incorrect word when communicating with someone? Vice President Joe Biden’s racist “want to put y’all back in chains” rant was given a pass.

The RNC’s attitude is that Republicans don’t need to defeat Sen. Claire McCaskill to obtain control of the Senate because they’ll have gains elsewhere. Therefore, they are withholding funds necessary to counter McCaskill’s TV advertising, thereby attempting to give the election to McCaskill.

They are unconcerned that Missouri Republicans elected Akin to represent us because we want McCaskill defeated. They also forget that Missouri Republicans sent the RNC the money that it is now withholding.

My proposed solution is that we immediately cease giving to the RNC, or any of its divisions, and, instead, send it directly to Akin.

David Otto

Gladstone

Royals’ bad announcer

I agree with all of the people writing to object to the inane Rex Hudler. He never shuts up.

Does he even breathe? He makes up thoughts for the players and tells us all about what he imagines is going on in their heads.

We used to get hits, now we get knocks. Players used to catch the ball, now they glove it. They used to score runs, now they plate them.

Enough.

Now the best thing about going to the games is not having to listen to Hudler. Let’s put him on the waiver wire and move on.

Ralph Egleston

Lee’s Summit