Syrian rebels need more aid from the U.S.

Stepping up to stop the massacre of civilians by chemical warfare is a moral and just effort. But just how far that defense goes is a calculation that war-wary Americans must hear about in detail from the president soon.

Samantha Power is a superb choice for U.N. ambassador

If Samantha Power spends the next three years trying to make the United Nations work as a model institution, it will be frustrating and useless. If she spends the next three years calling attention to the moral and human consequences of collective decisions, it could make all the difference in the world.

Sugar protectionism means taxpayers lose out

The provisions by which Washington transfers wealth from 316 million American consumers to a few thousand sugar producers are part of a “temporary” commodity support program created during the Great Depression.

Labels on beef will protect consumers

After years of lobbying by consumer groups and a detailed exposé of the problem published last year in The Kansas City Star, the federal government finally appears ready to require mandatory labeling requirements for mechanically tenderized beef. That’s a much-needed step, and it shouldn’t have taken this long to get to it.

An urgency to help young students read

Mayor Sly James’ Turn the Page KC initiative, which has a goal of getting many more students' reading proficiency up to speed by the third-grade milestone, has won national praise for efforts to raise children’s reading ability by third grade.

Wheelchair law needs to be changed

“Medicare says a person in a complex wheelchair can’t roll out the door to go to work,” writes Finn Bullers, an advocate for people with disabilities. “Or attend a child’s soccer game. Or volunteer to help with third-grade “Rocket Math” at school. Does that make any sense?”

States are moving in the opposite direction of Washington

Last November’s elections resulted in one-party control of both the legislatures and governor’s offices in all but 13 states — the most single-party dominance in decades. This means many blue states are moving further left, while red states are heading rightward. It’s as if we’re seceding from each other without going through all the trouble of a civil war.

Laptops for all bodes well

Slowly, area school districts are providing students with laptop computers for use in classrooms and at home. Liberty Public Schools joins Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools in the venture.

Playing politics with mental health

There is a real life consequence to spreading ignorance about matters of health. As the military deals with record suicide rates, one shudders to think of the soldier, afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, who will read Neil Munro’s scribblings and feel affirmed in his belief that seeking help is somehow unmanly.

Obama proves to be both feckless and clueless

President Barack Obama doesn’t want U.S. boots on the ground. Fine. But between nothing and invasion lie many intermediate measures: arming the rebels, helping Turkey maintain a safe zone in northern Syria, grounding Assad’s murderous air force by attacking airfields — all the way up to enforcing a no-fly zone by destroying the regime’s air-defense system.

Kansas budget reflects Legislature’s dysfunction

The heavily conservative Kansas Legislature showed itself repeatedly this year to be meddlesome, callous to people’s needs and downright foolish in many instances. The new budget reflects those tendencies, and the state will have to live with it.

Regaining lost ground in civil rights and the arts

Jacqueline Chanda, the president of the Kansas City Art Institute, remains filled with the same hope for the present and future that her parents instilled in her during the civil rights movement. It fueled her career. That hope, with the community’s renewed push, can make the next 50 years in America the greatest of all for the arts.

Why are pets allowed on planes but not trains?

Four House members have proposed the Pets on Trains Act of 2013 to allow people to travel with their domestic pets. The act would require that Amtrak devote at least one car for kenneled pets for passengers traveling less than 750 miles. This important measure is long overdue.

Public needs say in massive data-mining surveillance

The great civil liberties traditions of this nation do not condone invasive sweeps of information from innocents to find the few bad guys. That debate belongs in Congress and on Main Street. It needs to happen soon, and Obama should call for it directly.