Midwest Voices Blog
A green light for more red-light cameras in KC
Kansas City’s red-light cameras are working just as advertised. They reduce dangerous crashes inside intersections. They punish lawbreakers and produce revenue to support city services. They even help the police investigate robberies and homicides. Expanding the number of these cameras makes sense. And yet they still annoy a lot of ...
Take a cue from Sweden on government spending
There’s little argument that the $800 billion-plus stimulus bill that was President Barack Obama’s first “accomplishment” soon became one of his biggest political liabilities. The recovery that began in mid-2009 has been the weakest since World War II in terms of GDP growth and nearly the weakest in terms of ...
Breasts at the Arboretum
I just heard! There is outrage at the Overland Park arboretum! Quick, shield the eyes of your youngsters. Was it a turtle that fell out of her shell without the appropriate undershirt on? No! Was it a mother bunny nursing her baby bunnies without the appropriate covering to hide herself ...
Try a little logic in abortion talk
I spent more than 40 years in information technology. With computers, logic rules. I apply logic to other areas of my life as well. Logic cuts through emotions and religion in dissecting problems. Here’s my logical analysis of abortion. For a starting point, I’ll use the anti-choice bumper sticker, “It’s ...
How Kansas, Missouri lawmakers wasted your money
The Missouri and Kansas legislative sessions are over, but we find ourselves looking back, in the way one swivels for a last view of a train wreck. The sessions were disasters in both states. Missouri’s was stranger and less productive than usual. The Kansas session was downright painful. Debacles were ...
Let's have more fracking, for the sake of the environment
If you think carbon emissions are the planet's biggest threat (I don't), then you should favor more fracking. Environmentalists, of course, do not -- even though the fracking boom and increasing use of natural gas has cut America's emissions of CO2 by 450 tons over the last five years. The ...
Curfew to keep black kids off Plaza starts tonight
Yes, I know KC officials call it a "youth curfew." But let's be honest. What many people want the curfew that [takes effect](http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/24/3626599/youth-curfew-starts-again-this.html) tonight to accomplish is keep unruly black kids off the Country Club Plaza and out of the Power & Light District. Let's see: - The curfew applies ...
Unstoppable youths likely to disregard curfew
Like swimming pools opening on Memorial Day for the start of summer, Kansas City also will begin its 9 p.m. curfew for youths in the city's entertainment districts. The Country Club Plaza. Westport, the Power & Light District, 18th and Vine, the Central Business District and Zona Rosa are supposed ...
Hunger never takes a holiday
It seems cruel that when the weather gets warm that food shortages for people in need reach a peak. A lot of folks only think of needy people during the Christmas holiday. But need respects no season, and hunger never takes a holiday. The Star reports today that homeless shelters ...
Brownback better sign Shariah law bill
What kind of ultra-conservative is Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback? We could find out today. Brownback has a chance to show his conservative creds with the tea party and other supporters by signing the so-called Shariah law bill. Sure, signing it would be a display of ignorant discrimination. And yet another ...
