Readers sound off on Gov. Brownback, minimum wage, Earth Day
Brownback, welfare
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is the conservatives’ Rambo. No lingerie for the poor. Women must go commando.
Barbara Lebedun
Kansas City
Minimum wage
I totally disagree with The Star’s endorsement of increasing the minimum wage.(4-16, Editorial, “Fairer pay on low end would benefit everyone”). This is just another form of liberal income distribution.
Your Taco Bell example would double that person’s income. Who do you think will pay for this? Us.
It’s about choice. These people can choose to enhance their skill for these entry-level jobs and move up the ladder, much like I did when I started at McDonald’s working at its minimum wage.
Better skills equal more money. Let the free market make those decisions. Don’t legislate it.
Let another city test it, not Kansas City.
Why does The Star not try it? Take all your workers who currently are under $15 and raise them to that level. The result? Higher prices for ads and newspapers.
I’m all for helping truly needy people but will never endorse just writing checks to those who have the ability and capability to improve their lots in life.
Geoff Alston
Prairie Village
Saving planet Earth
Earth Day on April 22, 1970, involved more than 20 million Americans rising up to tell the U.S. government they cared about a healthy and sustainable environment.
Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson and Republican Rep. Pete McCloskey provided the initial idea and organization for this monumental event. How’s that for bipartisanship?
Ah, the good old days.
The Environmental Decade followed, including passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. The very Republican Nixon administration established the Environmental Protection Agency.
Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration has nearly completed a Clean Power Plan, the state complement to the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan. The goal for Missouri is to reduce CO2 emissions 21 percent by 2030 from the 2005 baseline.
The Missouri Clean Energy Coalition is an independent organization that has been formed to promote clean energy and address the problem of global warming.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, Earth Day, all those who are able and care about our living Earth are invited to meet in Jefferson City to tell our legislators how critically we need to develop clean energy.
This is not a partisan issue but an Earth issue.
Earth needs you.
Dave Mitchell
Kansas City
Valuing fraternities
Fraternities have been in the news this year and not in a positive way.
But just as all suburban towns should not be denigrated by what has happened in Ferguson, Mo., and not all Muslims should be associated with the Islamic State terrorists, the irresponsible behavior of a few individuals should not adversely affect the reputations of all fraternities.
My experience in a fraternity was not only positive during my undergraduate years, but it also has been a lifelong benefit. I have long held that most of what is learned in college is from outside the classroom.
Skills such as time and money management, how to meet and work with others and the importance of follow-up and follow-through are enhanced during a person’s college years. Being a member of a fraternity further develops these attributes.
Yes, we had fun as young adults, and we did some foolish things. But I absolutely did not want to be accused of bringing ill-repute upon those whom I called my brothers.
When one of us got out of line, others were quick to call it to attention and take the appropriate actions. Those values still exist today.
I am proud to say that I am a Sigma Chi.
Jim Griggs
Stilwell
Pro-life expansion
Being pro-life needs to involve more than just legislation concerning abortion. The current sessions of the Missouri and Kansas legislatures continue to assault in different ways the poor, as I see it.
We want women to bring children into the world even if they find themselves in stressful situations and with limited prospects. Our society doesn’t seem willing to give women or the needy much support.
There’s no expansion for Medicaid. People have a hard time getting anywhere in life facing health challenges.
We can tell the poor what to do but keep the government off everyone else’s back.
Taking a cue from the Kansas restriction on using welfare money on ocean cruises, maybe my food pantry shouldn’t give out pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We don’t want the needy to have too much.
Let’s set the bar so low to qualify for programs that people can’t afford to work. Catholic social teaching seeks that people be given the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.
Missouri and Kansas seem to take pride in keeping poor people down.
Again, pro-life is more than the beginning of life.
Father Dave Holloway
Kansas City
Motorcycle helmets
Once again, a Missouri legislature without pressing issues on its agenda is attempting to make the wearing of helmets optional for motorcyclists, that is, for bikers who are at least age 21 and have $50,000 in medical insurance.
Anyone familiar with serious head injuries knows that over a lifetime the costs of care, much of which would likely be borne by Missouri taxpayers, easily reaches or exceeds, on average, a seven-figure amount.
The most frequently argued rationale of proponents for helmet-free riding is the defense of the individual’s freedom of choice. While they’re at it, these liberty-loving Missouri lawmakers might also consider making optional the onerous requirements of driving on the right side of the road, using headlights at night or wearing seat belts.
The proposed legislation of our Missouri representatives begs the question of their own lack of protective headgear.
Sadly, if this becomes law, expansion of Medicaid in Missouri should be considered as a follow-up measure.
Martin Zehr
Member
Heart of America
Motorcycle Enthusiasts
and the Ironbutt
Association
Kansas City
Postal non-service
I really wanted to write a letter about the inequitable pay of adjunct professors. Instead, I write concerning our post office on Pershing Road.
It is advertised to be open until 7 p.m. With a crowd outside its closed gate on April 15, I was told at 6:15 p.m., “It doesn’t matter what the website says. We close at 6 o’clock.”
I was talking through the gate to this employee when another employee walked up. When I asked, “How are we supposed to get our mail postmarked?” the second employee told the first, “Just quit talking to him. Don’t say another word.”
The first then told us we could go to the distribution center on Cleveland Avenue. I was holding three envelopes containing more than $1,000 in checks for two states and the federal return.
Part of that money will support their jobs. This is one of the last high-paying service-sector positions in the country.
I begrudge their attitude, not their pay. It was hateful. And, yes, second employee, I will follow this up with your supervisor.
You should get paid what the adjunct professors do, only at the distribution center on Cleveland Avenue, not in front of the public.
Kurt Battles
Kansas City
Government help
The legislators in our two states make a big deal out of the “bloat” in local government as well as the federal government. I can attest to some need for local help.
I had a problem with an insurance company with an unwarranted billing that I could not solve through numerous letters, phone calls and email. As a result, the insurance company sent this bill to collection, so now I was dealing with two parties that wouldn’t listen.
I wrote to the Kansas Commissioner of Insurance, and within two weeks the problem was solved. Of course, if I had the Koch brothers’ money, I could have called a lawyer.
Sadly, I do not. Luckily, I have local help.
Alan Holmgren
Overland Park
This story was originally published April 20, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers sound off on Gov. Brownback, minimum wage, Earth Day."