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Austin Welsh
Archbishop Joseph Naumann and Bishop Robert Finn in their recent pastoral letter on health care provide sensible guidance in the reform debate.
Larry Johnson’s release by the Chiefs — due in part to his recent use of gay slurs — has shined a spotlight on an entrenched problem within American culture: the perennial need for a marginalized group to serve as the embodiment of some people’s hatred, fears and anger. It is an age-old phenomenon with a rotating cast of targets. Racial minorities, people with disabilities, certain ethnic groups, women and people with particular physical characteristics all have been a favored target at some time. Eventually, intolerance for bigoted speech targeting a certain group forces it out of the everyday vernacular. Sadly, this requires those inclined to use such language to find a new target. In recent years, gays have taken center stage. As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have become more recognized and accepted, the media, political leaders and others in a position of authority have increasingly rejected the use of anti-gay terms in public discourse. This helps to hasten — and reflects — a distaste for such terminology among the public as a whole.
Climate change legislation that could create dynamic new markets for clean energy solutions and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is moving through Congress. Congress must recognize the contributions of farmers, ranchers and forestland owners when establishing a viable and equitable system. Solutions from the land don’t only benefit agriculture and forestry — they make good tools in our nation’s fight against climate change.
“My boy is going to have the same opportunities as everyone else.” Mama Gump, from “Forrest Gump”
“Guarded optimism” characterizes community reaction to Superintendent John Covington’s new administration. There are hopeful signs. He has brought in new top executives whose appointments seem to be based on merit, not connections. And a budget cutting process is under way.
As I’ve met with patients, doctors, small business owners and families to talk about health care, one thing is very clear: Missourians want to keep what works and fix what is broken. They are tired of bills whose importance is measured in length, rather than effectiveness. But the Washington Democrats’ response is to introduce a budget-busting, 1,990-page health care plan. This plan is so unwieldy that no one knows exactly what’s in it. We do know that it will cost more than $1 trillion, increase premium costs, put a bureaucrat between you and your doctor and pay for most of it with Medicare cuts.
I support a phased withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan, starting Jan. 1 and ending no later than Dec. 31, 2012. The Afghan people have suffered enough and the U.S. government should promote a negotiated settlement to the war. Afghanistan has been at war almost continually since 1979. We’ve been over there since 2001. At the end of 2012 we’ll have been there 11 years. That’s more than long enough to achieve our mission. And 32 years of war is too long for the Afghans.
The United States has long played an important role in animal health research and industry. This leadership is continuing and expanding with the creation of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a unique, state-of-the-art science lab that will use world-class research expertise and infrastructure in Kansas to ensure food safety.
The current debate over global warming has obscured a fact that should not be debatable — namely that the planet is and has been environmentally degraded by the human footprint. Every third of a second, the planet makes room for one additional human being, who on average spews into the air 3.2 tons of carbon along with his share of 80,000 ton of carbon monoxide and 270,000 metric tons of methane.
Drug abuse and drug crime were virtually out of control in metro Kansas City in the 1980s. Drug houses flourished, and streets were open markets for dealing. We didn’t have the money or manpower to fight back — until the voters of Jackson County stepped in. Twenty years ago residents approved a Community Backed Anti-Drug Tax, better known as COMBAT. The quarter-cent sales tax bore huge results in clamping down on the drug trade, helping addicted people and steering young people away from drugs.
