Presidential race, Oz

Direct from the Land of Oz: The Tin Man and the Scarecrow are running for president and vice president. One is looking for a heart. The other is looking for a brain.

Can you name the candidates?

Toby Grotz

Prairie Village

Obama benefits U.S.

On foreign policy, we’ve had relative peace under President Barack Obama, and it’s no accident. Obama ended the war in Iraq and is now ending the one in Afghanistan.

He is picking off al-Qaida operatives one by one. He avoids crises by anticipating events, working behind the scenes and through diplomacy with strength and resolve.

When crises do inevitably come up, he defuses them instead of inflaming them.

This is how I want my president to handle foreign affairs.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s foreign policy would be a return to President George W. Bush’s gunslinger approach. This would put too much pressure on American troops who have fought two wars for the last 11 years.

Our troops and their families have sacrificed too much for rich people like the Romneys. I doubt that any of Gov. Romney’s sons would serve in his next war in the Middle East.

Thank God that our president is ending these wars.

Richard Tatro

Kansas City Kan.

Gambling, sports

In 1989, Pete Rose was summarily tossed out of professional baseball for gambling on teams while still a player and remains a controversial, largely vilified figure. Now The Star prints a story detailing the gambling world’s ire at 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh for not “scoring enough” to cover the point spread in their game against the Seahawks (10-20, B2, “Don’t bet on it”).

I’m not a sports fan. I read the sports section only to confirm that the Royals are bad and the Chiefs worse. But this story confuses me. Are coaches now expected to kowtow to gamblers’ expectations in addition to their regular job of coaching players and winning as many games as possible?

I understand there’s an uncomfortable relationship between sports and gambling, but it seems to me that reporting on this in business-as-usual language presents a confusing picture. Gambling is (mostly) legal in this country, but preserving gamblers’ pocketbooks by telling a coach how to play is unprecedented.

If this is now the norm, then we should by all means allow Mr. Rose back into baseball and admit him into the Hall of Fame.

There’s no real difference anymore.

Josh Hamm

Kansas City

Journalism, objectivity

The misinformed misstatement of an obscure conservative congressman from Missouri makes national news (10-23, A4, “Akin aide adds profanity to dog comparison”). The deliberate deception, or perhaps incompetence, of our commander in chief regarding the deaths of Americans overseas is largely ignored.

Journalistic objectivity is a joke.

David Schneeberger

Raymore

Voting Republican

There are both good things and bad things about Republicans and Democrats.

But if you think the poor, jobless and elderly should not be helped, that humans are not causing climate change, that the Earth is not getting warmer, that evolution and science is wrong, that humans are not overpopulating the planet, that environmental protection is not necessary, that big business, big oil and “clean coal” are always so good for us and do no wrong, that wealthy folks deserve to pay lower taxes, that women, minorities and gays are sub-citizens, that all Muslims are terrorists, that contraception should not be an option, that nothing is wrong with the cost of American health care, that our various American governments are bad and our schools and teachers are all terrible, and you have an anti-tax mentality for everything except for our military, then for sure you need to vote Republican.

Robert Siemens

Shawnee

Taking responsibility

In every article I’ve read about the mess at the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles, no one ever takes responsibility for this failed system. From the top down, at the state level, no person or persons has to be held responsible.

Who should it be? The person who wrote the system specifications, the person who approved the acceptance of the system or the vendor, who obviously delivered a $40 million system that was not designed to handle the work load?

How about getting some of the money back from the vendor by filing a failure-to-meet-contract claim?

Bob Williams

Olathe

Voter ID needed

Around a fourth of those polled recently don’t think voter photo identification is a good idea. The majority of Democrats, African-Americans and Latinos were all in favor. Together with Republicans and independents, nearly three-quarters favor voter photo ID.

Those in opposition like to claim that there is no evidence of voter fraud. A trip to the public library would show volumes written on election fraud — so much it makes one wonder whether there’s ever been an election without fraud. And, yes, evidence itself is often lacking because the benefactor of the fraud usually has complete party control of the appeals process.

And, where’s the evidence that anyone has been refused a photo ID?

Common sense should tell us that included among those who oppose voter photo ID are also those who have no problem with fraudulent voting.

A 19th century historian, Lord Acton, said election fraud was “the one pervading evil of democracy.”

In my opinion, voter photo ID is a small step toward reducing this “evil.”

Robert Devine

Excelsior Springs

Bring back draft

We live in a very scary and unstable world today and for a long time into the future. Our country has been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for 11 years, and thousands of our young have perished or have been severely injured both physically and mentally.

Our founding fathers understood that the world was a dangerous and unstable place and warned us not to become involved in the problems in Europe. Today, we again hear cries for more use of our armed forces in Iran , Syria and Yemen.

Stanley McChrystal, the former commander in Afghanistan, warned that the all-volunteer army is a failure when we are constantly at war. He recently wrote a paper suggesting that it is time to have a draft either for the military services or for community service.

A draft would make all people involved, and this would put more pressure on our elected officials to be cautious about getting involved in world wars, peacekeeping or nation-building.

Melvin Glazer

Overland Park

Seeking fairness in U.S.

With all the bickering going on in the race to the top of the November election mountain, everyday people often get left behind in the dust. The race should not be about whose talking points are going to win or go over better in sound bites. It should be about the real-life issues of the people.

We, the people, are still out of work and are struggling to take care of our soldiers wounded physically and mentally by a decade in wars. We, the people, struggle to pay for college and worry about the financial security of our aging population.

All the while we have a group of people making more money than ever and paying less in taxes than the people cleaning out their offices. We, the people, are as hard-working and family-oriented as anyone else.

We, the people, don’t want to rob anyone or take all their money. We are just asking for a fair and equal tax playing field.

Matt Burton

Liberty

KC Losertown, USA

Kansas City is the city with the longest losers in the country. Instead of bashing announcers, the people should be bashing the owners.

We suffer year after year with inept teams and incompetent management. Part of the problem is that we have absentee owners who demand improved facilities and a loyal fan base.

Most people in the Kansas City area seem to be more concerned with whether Frank White was fired than whether the teams succeed. Extraneous things such as Slugger, Warpaint, Chiefs cheerleader calendars and the halls of fame seem to be more important than winning.

Rex Hudler gets bashed more than the management of the team.

I gave up on the Royals years ago but have continued to buy Chiefs season tickets. I try to hide this fact from my friends. How can anyone spend that kind of money for such a poor product?

Chris Anderson

Basehor