Comprehensive nothing

Is it just me or has anyone else recognized that when politicians use the word “comprehensive,” nothing seems to get done? Immigration, taxes and social programs are just a few areas.

Maybe it’s time they realize that only our creator has the ability to use the word “comprehensive.” I would rather see those politicians who have been crawling or scooting nowhere stand up and start taking a few steps into statesmanship and just start repairing our systems in areas we can agree on.

There are areas of agreement that should not be held back by the word comprehensive.

Daniel Distler

Shawnee

Korean War veterans

The armistice ending open warfare in Korea was signed, July 27, 1953. The Korean War veterans who returned to the U.S. resumed their lives with no fanfare, most merging back into civilian life with only their family or close friends realizing the ordeal they had survived.

Since that time, U.S. military personnel have continued to be deployed to South Korea as a protective force against aggression from North Korea. The Korean War Veterans Association was formed in 1985 and awarded a congressional charter in June 2008, thus achieving equal status with organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion.

Korean War veterans and Korean service veterans (those who served in Korea since the armistice) are both eligible for Korean War Veterans Association membership.

I encourage all Korean War veterans and Korean service veterans to visit the Korean War Veterans Association website (www.kwva.org) to obtain a membership form or call the national membership office at 217-345-4414 for more information.

There are two Korean War/Service Veterans chapters in the metro area, one in Missouri, one in Kansas. Contact information can be obtained from the aforementioned sources.

Tom Stevens

President, Kansas

KWVA Chapter 181

Overland Park

Bannister Mall area

In 1968, my parents moved into the Bannister/Blue Ridge Boulevard area and were very happy there until the advent of U.S. Housing and Urban Development projects in the 1970s that began the downward spiral of the area.

In the late 1970s, my mother was followed home from shopping and robbed in her own home.

That downward spiral and increase in crime continued and was a major factor in the failure of not only the Bannister Mall but also the Wal-Mart Hypermart nearby.

Without significant incentives, why would any developer risk a dime on a major project there?

You can bet this was an unspoken factor in the soccer complex going to Kansas. As the region continues to decay, maybe the best option would be to build a prison on the site.

Tony Bradley

Parkville

YMCA urban trend

All anyone has to do is look at the history of the YMCA in many American cities. Many neighborhood Y’s have been abandoned, especially in low-income communities, in favor of building shiny new Yuppie Y’s for employees of downtown businesses who can afford YMCA memberships.

Now it’s happening in Kansas City. No wonder the Y has been under fire for its nonprofit tax exemption for being in (unfair) competition with for-profit health clubs.

It’s kind of like the archdiocese abandoning many inner-city parochial schools. Gotta go where the money is, regardless of who benefits from the services but can’t afford the cost. Again, it’s who needs vs. who pays.

Eugene R. Wilson

Shawnee

Fighting climate change

Scientists recently confirmed what many Missourians already assumed: 2012 was the hottest year on record in the United States.

Combined with devastating events such as Superstorm Sandy and the record drought that engulfed our state and much of the rest of the country, the past 12 months offered an alarming picture indicating we can expect even more from global warming.

We know what we need to do to tackle global warming: Clean up the largest sources of the carbon pollution fueling the problem. Right now, President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency are working to do exactly that by developing the first-ever carbon-pollution limits for new power plants — a truly historic step toward cleaning up the single largest source of carbon pollution and toward helping to guard against even more extreme weather for Missouri and the country.

A record number of Americans have spoken out in support of the proposed standards, and I urge the EPA to finish the job on these standards and develop standards for existing power plants.

Missouri’s safety and our environment depend on it.

Stuart Keating

Environment Missouri

St. Louis

KanCare is no panacea

I have a case management agency supporting clients in Johnson County who are included in KanCare. These clients were not carved out of the current program because even though diagnosed with developmental disabilities they are in a program called Working Healthy and were automatically put in the system.

Our agency is required to bill through their assigned managed-care organizations. Unfortunately, since January, we have not received any funds because of a major glitch in the system that prevented their computers from recognizing the code we were told to use.

Come January 2014, all of our developmental-disability clients will be assimilated into KanCare even though there was overwhelming opposition from the community.

Currently, I am forced to dip into my reserves to fund my payroll. I will not be able to sustain my agency through January with billing that is late, reduced or nonexistent.

We were promised this system would be seamless and easy to use, with all the kinks worked out before implementation. Not so.

Families and providers have asked that this population be excluded from KanCare, and we are pleading with Kansas legislators to please carve us out.

Marilyn Kubler

Shawnee

Steve Rose column

Steve Rose’s March 9 column, “Waving a white flag in the economic border war,” represents a sea change by disavowing state tax incentives used to attract businesses to Kansas.

He came to this opinion with the help of information provided by Bill Hall, president of the Hall Family Foundation, which concluded these incentives were a wasteful and shortsighted use of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

This report has shown the insanity of tax incentives created by Kansas and Missouri to lure businesses across state lines.

What can be done with those tax dollars that would actually foster an environment of new business/job growth?

The answer: Invest in our future. Invest in education.

American teachers and children are as excellent and capable as the top performing teachers and students worldwide. America needs to supply the same basic services that these top performing nations provide, such as quality preschool education for all 3- and 4-year-olds, a 220-day school year and guaranteed Internet access for households with school-age children.

Businesses and families will flock to the cities and states that can offer this pathway to growth and prosperity in their communities.

Linda Hanson

Overland Park

Values adjustment

I was just wondering why our nation’s leaders aren’t shouting about new regulations on violent video games and on Hollywood’s violent movies and television shows. Also, why aren’t they screaming into their microphones about the culture of death that we have created with abortion?

It’s OK to kill a baby with a scalpel or chemicals (in some cases even a partially born baby). But only when it’s done with a gun do we understand that it’s a horrific tragedy.

Really? Hopefully, we can band together to right these wrongs before another generation grows up with these values.

Kermit Deterding

Wellsville, Kan.

Postal Service benefits

What can you buy for less than 50 cents? For my half-dollar, a uniformed professional will walk right up to my doorstep and retrieve a letter that I left there in the box.

My love note will then be carried, driven, flown, driven and carried again by another uniformed pro who will hand deliver it to the doorstep of my loved one, 2,000 miles away — for 46 cents.

Every other service provider in America has the freedom to raise rates to any extent at any time. Why is this not so for the U.S. Postal Service?

If the Postal Service were allowed to raise its rates 100 percent as the lottery recently did, the cost for the service I enjoy would still be cheaper than a burger at a fast-food joint. The U.S. Postal Service offers the loudest bang for the half buck available to American consumers.

Alan Franklin

Independence