Funding bus service

There was great concern about how Johnson County would continue to pay for The JO bus service. I wondered how to fund the service, especially for people who have no other transportation to get to a job.

As I understand quite often these buses are never full and only have a few riders at a time, I would like to make a few suggestions other than raising taxes so the rest of us pay for a service we don’t use.

One would be to get smaller buses. I saw bus No. 149 one day, and it was considerably smaller than the regular bus. This size bus could be used on routes where there aren’t very many riders at once. It should be cheaper to operate, just in fuel alone.

Also the system should figure out when these riders need the service and be there at that time, spacing out the buses, instead of dropping routes altogether.

On income for the system, try advertising. Has anyone looked into the possibility that corporations such as Sprint, AMC or Hallmark, just to name a few, could fund the system with advertising on the sides of the buses.

Just a couple of ideas from someone who really doesn’t think it is a good idea for everyone in the county to pay more taxes for something not everyone uses.

Jennie Sindak

Overland Park

Kansans’ civil war

There is now a petition on the White House petitions website to allow the state of Kansas to peaceably secede from the Union: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/allow-state-kansas-peaceably-withdraw-union/BsSM3szW.

Mike Nichols

Overland Park

Lies and presidents

When President Bill Clinton lied, no one died.

When President George W. Bush lied, people died.

And when our ambassador died, President Barack Obama lied.

This is America. We deserve better. We deserve the truth.

Andy Fisher

Pleasant Hill

Losing welfare crutch

The United States has been enduring a weak economy for several years now.

Throughout this time, many people rely on things such as welfare and unemployment money.

These efforts usually strive to improve the financial situations of people in need but may also strive to improve their employment chances and many other aspects of their lives, including sometimes their mental health.

However, there are many people in the United States who take advantage of welfare and only do more damage to the already sinking economy. The money that pays for welfare and unemployment comes from taxpayers.

Taxpayers can’t afford to pay for things that are unnecessary for them to pay for. There are two solutions that could fix this problem.

The government could make the requirements more substantial so that only those who really need welfare can get it. The citizens of the United States could also be more honest and humble about how much financial help they truly need.

If this problem could be corrected, fewer people in the United States would need to rely on the next welfare check, and the economy would be one step closer to escaping corruption.

Jacob Francis

Liberty

Getting budget done

Here’s an idea. Forbid President Barack Obama, all administration spokesmen, all members of Congress and their staffs from appearing in front of a microphone or camera (that includes news conferences and talk shows) until a deal is done on the budget.

They should lock themselves in a room and get the job done that we elected them to do. Everything should be on the table, including tax reform in all its manifestations, entitlement reform, etc.

We, the people, deserve better than this constant political posturing.

Barbara Scott

Shawnee

Norquist pledge

My father impressed me with one of the intellectual adages of his day: “A smart man can change his mind. A damn fool never does.”

The Grover Norquist pledge to never vote for any tax increase was signed by Republican office seekers and dates to President Ronald Reagan’s era. That revenue starvation caused a tripling of the national debt when Reagan left office.

President George W. Bush further reduced taxes for the super-rich in his first 100 days in office, and over his eight years the Norquist pledge was signed by more than 70 percent of Republican congressmen. The economic crash occurred in the final quarter of the Bush presidency.

You’d think Norquist would be satisfied, but Republicans are intent on destroying the U.S. economy, just as they’ve threatened. Over the cliff we go.

Rep. Kevin Yoder may have never heard my father’s saying, yet the Kansas Republican persevered and retained control over his vote, unbound to some pirate to whom others have sold their ballots.

Republican congressmen must wake up to the domestic threat to the U.S. in which they’re engaged and to the label they’ve earned under that wise adage.

Lloyd Hellman

Leawood

Maintaining life

I am appalled at women (even so-called Catholic women) who want me to pay for their contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacient pills.

We are Catholic and never used contraceptives and have five children. We wouldn’t give back one of them.

We are 89 and 91 years old with 66 years of marriage and have two sons helping care for us at the Lake of the Ozarks.

They evidently don’t want us home in heaven yet. God’s holy will be done, we always pray.

When people selfishly deny God the right to give them a child, they have to hope they won’t spend their older years in a nursing home with loneliness as their companion.

People have a right to choose, yes, but they have no right to make me pay for their immoral choices.

Thank heaven and God for Missouri lawmakers who overrode Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto on the birth-control part of the Obamacare bill. Now we are the true Show-Me State.

Irene L. Garcia

Camdenton, Mo.

Marriage equality for all

Many people now are comparing the current marriage equality movement to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In my history classes, I have often wondered how I would have reacted during the latter movement.

Would I have stood up for civil rights even though it was against tradition and what a large portion of the population supported?

I will never know for certain what my answer would have been.

But I face a similar question today, one that I can answer. Will I stand up for marriage equality even though it’s against tradition and what a large portion of the population supports?

My answer is yes.

By simply supporting equal marriage rights for everyone, we all have the opportunity to stand on the right side of history.

Allison Fitts

Columbia, Mo.

Ever-early shopping

Now that many stores opted to start the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving, I am opting to not do any of my Christmas shopping at those stores.

I will support small businesses this year.

Debra Luptak

Lee’s Summit

Kansas joblessness

I realize that Kansas doesn’t have the highest unemployment rate. I do know that there are still hundreds of thousands of people in Kansas who are unemployed.

I don’t read anything in any of the newspapers or hear anything from the local TV stations about the unemployed. People in Kansas and across the U.S. who have employment don’t care or want to hear about the unemployed because it doesn’t affect them.

The fact of the matter is the information coming from the Department of Labor is far from accurate. If people would take the time to do their own research, they would learn the truth about the unemployment problem in our country.

Another issue — layoffs — is all over the Internet but I’m not seeing anything in the media about it. Apparently, many companies are planning to cut hundreds to thousands of jobs because of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and his plan to raise taxes on the rich.

Todd Miller

Paola, Kan.

Sunflower State love

Contrary to what the news media say, we Kansas Republicans didn’t lose in November. Our congressional delegation and statewide elected officials are now all Republican.

Plus we have a veto-proof majority in both houses of conservative Republicans, far lower taxes than California, Illinois and New York, right-to-work laws and good people everywhere. We have low crime and low unemployment.

Phooey on the liberals.

Other than weather, we live in the best state in the Union. And we lead the nation in exporting bad politicians.

Former Kansas governor and now Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius is gone, hopefully never to return.

Joe Neuner

Olathe