Readers share views on the Missouri House speaker scandal, guns and welfare reform
Scandal exposed
I’m shocked, shocked to find out what’s going on here (5-14, A1, “Missouri House Speaker admits to relationship with college intern”).
In Missouri, we expect our Republican state legislators to be God-fearing, gun-loving and ready to step-and-fetch-it for St. Louis billionaire Rex Sinquefield at a moment’s notice.
We don’t expect to read in our newspaper about the sexual shenanigans going on between Republican House Speaker John Diehl and a female college intern. I got palpitations and was left quivering reading the screenshots of the text messages between Diehl and the intern.
Of course, we have seen these types of sexcapades from Republicans before. Remember David Vitter? He frequented prostitutes in New Orleans.
This is Missouri, the country’s mecca for morality and Christian family values — not some liberal left-wing, loose-morals state.
The Star’s reporters can’t rest until this scandal is fully exposed. We want the truth, the whole truth, with every minute lascivious detail.
Please, oh please, oh please.
Jeffrey Bushman
Kansas City
Guns, open carry
When Kansas legislators decided to have open carry legal for anyone over 21, I decided their action demanded some action on my part. I’ve decided to boycott all the businesses in Kansas. Just stay in Missouri.
When I think of all the druggers, drinkers and insane (the latter also referring to the Legislature) who can be carrying a gun, it would be stupid of me to put myself and my family in danger. I doubt that changing doctors, dentist and hospitals is going to ruin the economy or shopping, for that matter.
I guess what really bothers me is who is behind all this backward law? Who lobbied for this? What industry is behind this?
I love it when lawmakers waste their time on laws that nobody wants, like this and voter fraud.
Has a politician ever admitted he made a mistake? Could politicians say, “Let’s go back to taxing the people who can afford it.”
Bring back the things that made the area so successful. Why do they think that for-profit companies can do a better job than their own state employees?
Joseph T. Purcell
Kansas City
Reforming welfare
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback last month signed a law tightening requirements for welfare recipients, and the Missouri General Assembly sent its own version of limitations in a bill to Gov. Jay Nixon.
Is there a difference between welfare and a helping hand? In my mind, there is.
A helping hand gets someone out of a hole.
That has been around for a long time. Churches and charities have tried this approach for many years.
The idea is to provide assistance to get a person started again in the world. The amount and duration vary for every situation.
Should the government be involved at all? With church membership declining and charities having a hard time, it may be a necessary option.
The focus needs to be on a helping hand and not a full-time dole system just because a human being is breathing.
The methods need to be tailored to deliver goods and services required for life, not money that can be squandered at anyone’s whim.
The new measures in Kansas and Missouri are focused on the delivery of goods and services and not providing free money for fun.
That is a concept I support.
It will be hard to implement, but it is the right idea.
Richard Blaisdell
Kansas City
Parker column
The May 14 column by Kathleen Parker, “Conservative Christians put on defensive — again,” and stories about the reduction of benefits for the poor don’t tell one of the most significant facts of religion and poverty.
Medicaid pays for 40 percent of all the births in the United States, according to medicaid.gov. Missouri pays for 43 percent; Kansas Medicaid pays for 41 percent of all births.
Conservatives fight against paying for birth control. Pregnancy is not just the responsibility of the woman. In most cases, it takes a man.
Christian values seem to forget that men have an equal responsibility for preventing unwanted pregnancies.
The majority of conservative men seem to have strong feelings about birth control and abortion. I would like them to develop strong feelings about taxpayers paying for birth control instead of births and reducing the ongoing needs for benefits for poor single women and their children.
Republican men should run on increasing financial stability rather than pandering to evangelical Christians and should immediately work on social issues limiting the rights of women.
Christian values need to acknowledge that abstinence doesn’t work, but birth control does. Do we want to continue paying for almost half the births in this country?
Cherryl Mitchell
Overland Park
Over age for ID
Being 73 years old, I get so mad when a clerk insists I show an ID to buy liquor. When I point out the absurdity, they tell me that while they may not agree with it, they are forced to do so because it’s the law.
There is no law that states a retailer is required to check the identification of every person purchasing those products, regardless of their apparent age. The regulations only state that it is illegal to sell those products to anyone under the legal age.
That’s all. If you don’t believe me, call Liquor Control.
There are some people in their 20s and 30s who might appear to only be 20 years old, and it’s certainly OK for them to have to prove their age. No problem there. Their age might be questionable.
But it’s absolutely ridiculous for them to refuse to sell a bottle of wine to a 76-year-old lady, as I witnessed recently at a CVS drugstore, because she didn’t have an ID.
Why do these stores make these ridiculous policies?
Charley Hutto
Kansas City
Closing digital divide
If the U.S. wants to be the global tech leader, then every American should have access to broadband Internet at home. Today, African-American and Hispanic families lag some 15 points behind whites in broadband adoption.
Four years ago, the Federal Communications Commission teamed with the nation’s largest broadband provider to initiate an attempt to close the digital divide. The undertaking, Internet Essentials, addresses the major barriers to adoption — demonstrating the relevance of broadband Internet and teaching the skills to use it — and offers discounted service and hardware.
This crucial program has connected 1.8 million low-income Americans to broadband, every one of whom has a story about the doors that have been opened and the new possibilities this change has meant.
A few outlier critics have emerged to claim the program hasn’t gone far enough. Although we are looking forward to more Internet providers joining the ranks of Comcast and others, these empty naysayers are squeaky wheels looking for attention, at the expense of a program that is working well.
The digital divide took years of neglect to open so wide. It’ll take years of hard work and political will to close.
Hilary O. Shelton
NAACP
Washington Bureau
Director
Senior vice president
for Advocacy
Washington, D.C.
Improve ballpark food
After attending games in several several major league ballparks, I can honestly say Kauffman Stadium has the most inferior food selection and presentation of any stadium I have visited. Why can’t those responsible get it right?
The bad press starting during the World Series and continuing is disgraceful. I attended the Series games in San Francisco and was amazed at the food offerings at the stadium.
I actually looked forward to dining at a different venue each night. Sliced meats right in front of your eyes. Fresh salads, incredible desserts — don’t the people who run our stadium get it?
Serve a good product, and people will buy it. Now that we have a good product on the field, it’s time to upgrade the concessions.
Bruce Riesman
Leawood
This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers share views on the Missouri House speaker scandal, guns and welfare reform."