Obama is wrong choice

My choice of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did not happen. As a woman, I am very disappointed with the women who voted President Barack Obama back in.

To me, this is demeaning to women. To the Hispanics who are Catholic, does your faith not matter?

To the young people in Iowa and Wisconsin, probably mostly college students, are you thinking more long term? When you are in college, you are carefree and have a blast.

When you graduate, will you be able to find a good-paying job and not have to flip burgers? This whole election has been disappointing to me. I feel sorry for the coal miners in West Virginia, losing their jobs. Obama dislikes coal, yet our country has a 200-year supply of coal.

Obamacare will be a disaster. So, you folks, don’t come crying to me when federal agents fine you for no health insurance. Don’t cry if you can’t find a job. Don’t expect that I will be sharing my foxhole.

Rita May

Richmond

Four more Obama years

Well, America did it again — voted President Barack Obama back in for another four miserable years. The voters will get what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us will suffer also. Heaven help America.

Rita Hartsook

Olathe

GOP is lackey for NRA

How laughable that people would think the National Rifle Association is a branch of the Republican Party. In truth it’s just the opposite — the Republicans all dance to the tune the NRA plays, just as they dance to the tune Grover Norquist plays.

And they are the ones who have a problem with the power of unelected bureaucrats. Who is more unelected than Grover Norquist?

There again, the tail is wagging the dog.

Of course, with the NRA’s inordinate influence on politics, the Democrats have to dance around the issue of gun control. But they at least aren’t in the NRA’s back pocket.

Ralph Hile

Merriam

Long years ahead

About the Nov. 7 front-page headline, “Four more years”: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Sherry Darrow

Leawood

Respect for veterans

My high school has forbidden the students at sporting events to say “home of the (our mascot)” at the end of the national anthem.

This practice has long been a tradition at Friday night football games, and I felt angry when I heard the news.

This change would affect the enthusiasm of the pregame ritual, especially for my senior class, which would lead this cheer.

I don’t often give much thought to patriotism, not that I don’t think it’s important. It simply doesn’t enter my mind on a regular basis.

After recently finishing “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, I realized why we finish the national anthem with “home of the brave.”

What do veterans or those currently serving think when “brave” is replaced by a team or mascot?

I now think the school’s decision was good because our veterans and those who serve our country deserve our respect even in small gestures like finishing the national anthem correctly.

This football season, I’d like to encourage spectators at Chiefs games and high school games to follow this example.

Now I know this isn’t the most important issue, but I felt it was worth sharing.

Connor Finn

Kansas City

Kudos to kids, The Star

The “Wear it proudly” Nov. 6 article featuring the artwork of schoolchildren left me no doubt that we have a generation of intelligent, creative, artistic thinkers coming along in the near future.

Thank you, Kansas City Star, for sponsoring and printing such talent.

Lane Klein

Prairie Village

Individual’s choice

I opened the Nov. 4 Star and then was hit with heavy disappointment on A6. Shame on Billy Graham for paying for a full-page advertisement (that could be easily mistaken as a Kansas City Star endorsement if the fine print were overlooked) to tell his followers whom to vote for.

A responsible Christian leader lets the members of his or her church come to their own decisions based on their individual beliefs. I am saddened that many who saw this shameless plea for votes would think every Christian felt this way (marriage is only between a man and woman, and sanctity of life = pro-life).

I am a Christian mother, wife, daughter, nurse and friend. I won’t be bullied to vote with the right wing by conservative Christians.

We live in America. Can’t we all respect free will and our privilege to vote as we choose?

Brooke Cannon Poindexter

Overland Park

Keeping kids healthy

By stopping the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages entirely, Children’s Mercy Hospital has taken its commitment a step beyond what the Partnership for a Healthier America requires of the more than 150 hospital partners that have joined its fight to end childhood obesity (11-5, A4, “Fighting childhood obesity”).

Through our work with the private sector to help make the healthy choice the easy choice for busy parents and families, the Partnership for a Healthier America knows that what works for one partner does not always work for another. That’s why our agreements with hospitals require that by 2015, 80 percent of beverages offered are healthier. This means beverages such as water, unflavored milk, unsweetened tea, coffee and 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice.

We applaud any partner that goes above and beyond its base commitment and are pleased that Children’s Mercy has joined the fight to help end the childhood obesity epidemic, which affects more than a third of children across this country.

Lawrence A. Soler

CEO

Partnership for

a Healthier America

Bethesda, Md.

Crime and punishment

As more and more churches are implicated in protecting sexual predators, it is time for the Internal Revenue Service to re-examine its policies regarding these institutions 501(c)(3) status.

Nonprofits that commit crimes should no longer be allowed to exist.

Our Constitution implies that there should be separation of church and state.

Why do we continue to protect the churches that hide predators?

Why are they continuing to operate as tax-exempt organizations?

After reading another headline about church employees who failed to report sex crimes by other employees of that church, I decided to begin the process of forcing the IRS to strip its tax-free status.

It has been a few days since I started an online petition and have been able to collect more than 100 signatures.

It is not about dismantling houses of worship that provide good services to the community.

It is about preventing institutions that break the law from continuing to harbor sex criminals at the expense of the children who attend.

Veronica Hope

Independence

Kudos to good roads

The roads in Lee’s Summit were in desperate need of repair.

For months, U.S. 50 going east and west was covered by potholes and loose gravel.

I am pleased to say that the Missouri Department of Transportation has done a wonderful job of repairing the highways — Missouri 291, U.S. 50 and Missouri 150 — which go in and out of Lee’s Summit.

The work was done quickly, at night when there was less traffic, and was done well.

The highways are smooth and safer now.

Also, I do not have to worry about more road damage to my car.

I would like to thank the Missouri Department of Transportation workers for taking care of this issue, which really was becoming a problem in Lee’s Summit.

I know I am not the only one who is happy about this.

I speak for many people who use these highways and roads and can say confidently that these improvements have positively affected the city’s transportation.

Garrett Loehr

Lee’s Summit

Cheering for the Chiefs

I know it’s hard to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan right now. But my message is that at least we have pro football team to talk about, bad or good.

I have been a Chiefs season ticketholder for more than 35 years and have experienced some very exciting times at Arrowhead Stadium. I know the sports reporters are hard on the football team, which they probably should be, but at least they have a professional football team to talk about, bad or good.

I could list many states and cities that would love to have the Chiefs. So let’s be glad we have pro team to cheer or jeer.

Don Nickle

Pleasant Hill

Improving sports pages

About the sports section in The Kansas City Star, I love the fact that there is usually a Kansas City Chiefs picture somewhere on the cover. But on the inside, the sports coverage and photographs aren’t very interesting.

High school sports should be better featured in the sports section. All I ask is a paragraph or picture for the winning schools.

Jason Nix

Kansas City