Bring home U.S. troops

The United States has spent vast amounts in money and blood securing the safety and integrity of the masses in the Middle East, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Libya. Yet people in those countries choose to burn and kill our people in their areas because a few people have posted disparaging remarks about their religion and God.

I say we should pull out all of our support — financial, commercial and technical aid. How long will those oil wells pump without our help?

John J. Blough

Liberty

Congress, child’s play

When my daughters were young, they would occasionally get into disagreements about which toy belonged to whom or who said what first. My wife and I had a plan in place.

Instead of interceding in the squabble, we would tell our children to sit on the steps to the basement, where they were to stay until they resolved their problems. In time, they became pretty good at solving problems.

It is time for the White House, Senate and House to fix the impending fiscal cliff. I propose that these two branches of government do not go home until they develop a real solution to the cliff, even if they have to stay in Washington through the Christmas holidays.

They should not be allowed to kick the can down the road or enact any stopgap legislation that will not resolve the conflict. We, the citizenry, deserve a resolution.

People are hurting and need our elected representatives to lead. They have not earned the privilege to spend Christmas with their families until they do the work of the people.

It is time we send them to the steps.

Bill Cordaro

Kansas City

Take care of U.S. first

It is time to take care of our own first.

The U.S. government spends well over $52 billion annually in foreign aid (actual 2010 figure). Many argue for humanitarian aid abroad, but wouldn’t it be better spent at home?

Also, stop foreign military aid.

Sorry Israel, Afghanistan and South Korea, but I sincerely doubt China and/or Russia would allow a nuclear or significant war to start, especially in their backyard (North and South Korea) or the Middle East.

An extra $50 billion and more a year would go a long way toward truly taking care of those in need within our own nation, while paying down the national debt at the same time.

While we are at it, issue oil-drilling permits in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, intelligently regulate coal production and immediately approve the Keystone pipeline.

Bobby Jackson

Leawood

McClanahan column

E. Thomas McClanahan’s allegations about the 1950s indicate: Gee, it was all about private enterprise (paraphrase — a Republican point of view still today), which was the basis of the prospering, developed world’s industrial base (12-2, Opinion, “Obama years could become our ‘lost decade’ ”).

Rebuttal: He should read the Marshall Plan. Officially the European Recovery Program, it was the American program to aid Europe through which the U.S. gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after World War II to help prevent the spread of communism.

McClanahan rejects Paul Krugman’s diagnoses. Unfortunately, I can find no index of McClanahan’s educational background. But I found he has never received a Nobel Prize in economics.

McClanahan says “we could face four more years of economic anemia.” As a Republican sycophant, he must have forgotten the 850,000 per month jobs lost under President George W. Bush.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will probably, to clear his run for president in 2016, reopen the Floorgraphics criminal complaint, and Rupert Murdoch’s pattern of criminal activity will be revealed so as RICO will bankrupt him.

William Cochran

Lake Ozark, Mo.

Sports taken too far

This may be the year Americans realized the dangerous side of their preoccupation with sports: the dark, inconceivable, scary side of idolizing young men and women and coaches. The two major tragedies that come to mind are Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse and Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide.

I’m a former college athlete who loves sports. However, the heartbreak, anger and confusion I felt as I read about the Belcher case made me stop and consider how I may have contributed to his monstrous acts and may have forced Penn State to silence molestation allegations.

We call these individuals heroes, spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and place their programs on pedestals. No one wanted to know a respected coach could commit such acts, so it was hushed.

We pay athletes millions of dollars, celebrate them as idols and berate them endlessly when they fail.

They’re thrust into the spotlight, forced to endure media scrutiny. Yet, they are human just like you and me, not superheroes or machines.

These tragedies shook cities, franchises and families. I sincerely hope they shook an industry and fan bases to reconsider the importance of remembering “it’s just a game.”

Life is bigger than sports.

Natalie Soltys

Kansas City

Chiefs’ offensive fans

When your 14 year-old daughter points out rude behavior by Kansas City Chiefs fans, I think the display of the maturity level speaks for itself.

I took my kids and some friends to a game this year, and we listened to Chiefs fans befoul the end of the national anthem and then listened to them boo the other team’s starting lineup introduction.

And my 14-year-old agreed: How stupid does it look to insult your country and talk smack on an opponent and then get beaten at Arrowhead Stadium?

Chiefs fans make it really easy not to go to Chiefs games.

Dane Hicks

Greeley, Kan.

Misspent U.S. wealth

Think of how much money was spent by our plutocratic elite on the 2012 election. From the state level through the national campaign, both parties raised and spent billions.

With that money, think of all the jobs that could have been created, schools built, bridges repaired, roads paved, sick healed and debts erased. How much of storm-ravaged New Jersey and New York could be restored?

When it is all finished, what will have been the price paid for the power to control the American people?

We call ourselves the greatest democracy on earth. May God help us.

Joe Briley

Kansas City

Common sense missing

The Federal Reserve is purchasing mortgages to stimulate job growth in the economy. It seems that the Fed has taken a page from the book of President Barack Obama to just throw money that we don’t have at the problem to try to make things better.

All this will do is drive the U.S. further into debt for our future generations for years to come.

It is time to get people in Washington, D.C., who know you cannot spend more than your income and still have a balanced budget. This is only good common sense.

Ron McKinney

Overland Park

Resurrecting Royals

After watching “Moneyball” for the 20th time, it finally hit home what’s wrong with the Kansas City Royals.

As you might know, this is a movie about general manager Billy Beane and the fiscally tight ownership of the Oakland A’s.

Billy’s leadership and the theories of a guy named Paul DePodesta (movie name Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill) made the A’s a contender, and they continue to be a contender with a lower-than-average budget by looking at players who have high on-base percentages.

Well, the Royals have a lower-than-average budget in a smaller market than Oakland.

What is not similar is that Oakland has been constantly competitive over the Billy Beane era with no-name players compared with the Kansas City cellar-dwellers over the same period.

We’re not going to get rid of the Royals’ owners, the Glass family, but maybe they’ll read this letter and consider a better way. As a baseball and Royals fan, I’m tired of losing and tired of excuses.

John Koehler

Kansas City