Readers share thoughts on the congressional Ebola hearing, BOTAR diversity and Missouri taxes
Congressionally rude
I’ll buy the dictionaries. You elect representatives to Congress willing to use one.
I realize words can have multiple meanings. But as I watched recent congressional hearings on the nation’s response to the Ebola crisis, no definition of “hearing” applied to the spectacle.
Repeatedly, congressmen and congresswomen asked complicated questions for which they demanded a yes-or-no answer.
What I observed was grandstanding, browbeating, fear-mongering or rude interrupting, but certainly not a hearing.
Beverly Ring
Olathe
BOTAR diversity
I usually get out of bed long before my wife in the morning, and by the time she gets up I will have read the entire Kansas City Star.
I often put sticky notes on articles or items of interest (to me) for her to read. I was reading The Kansas City Star Magazine for Sunday and came across the picture of the 2014 BOTAR class.
My sticky note to my wife that morning was: “Game of the day: Find the black or Hispanic women in this picture ... three-year time limit.”
This is shameful. Where is the diversity here?
Robert Cohn
Kansas City
Oval Office stretch
From President Barack Obama: There’s little chance of Ebola reaching U.S. We have it handled.
Obamacare is working great. Each family will save $2,500.
The economy is expanding. Unemployment has dropped (millions of people quit looking).
The border is more secure than ever before. The world is safer than any time in history.
You can keep your doctor if you like him, period. You can keep your insurance if you like it, period.
Not a smidgeon of corruption in the Internal Revenue Service. A video caused the Benghazi murders.
James Clapper underestimated the Islamic State. Shovel-ready jobs.
I have authority to grant amnesty. America is off a war footing.
I got Osama bin Laden and saved General Motors.
Solyndra is the future of energy. Republicans are getting in the way of fixing the economy (300 bills on Reid’s desk). I was born in Hawaii.
Wake up, America.
Steve Prosser
Overland Park
Revoke tax cut
It appears to me that if our legislators in Jefferson City were serious about rebuilding our highway system they would restore the $600 million tax cut they implemented during their last session and earmark this for highway improvements.
Then we could continue to enjoy low fuel taxes.
The tax cut that lawmakers passed benefits corporations and the very wealthy at the expense of low- and middle-income wage earners.
Alas, this is just too simple. They would rather install a regressive sales tax to fund highway improvements and blame the voters for its lack of passage.
Perhaps we should be asking, Whatever happened to representative government, where all the people are represented and not just the monied interests?
Gerald F. Gardner
Kansas City
KCI detractions
Kansas City International Airport improvements have been bantered about for years, with little movement down the runway.
Indecision has left us sitting at the gate. Let’s at least get the baggage cart rolling and go after some low-hanging luggage.
How about the art that greets visitors as they exit the airport. Many travelers I transport ask, “Was that billboard hit by a tornado? That elevated water main that’s spewing water, too?”
My reply: “It’s not a storm. It’s our water feature. Welcome to the City of Fountains.” That is met with fallen faces as hope of experiencing the “Paris of the Plains” is abruptly dashed.
Moving us away from the gate and into line for takeoff may be as simple as welcoming travelers with art that is recognized as art rather than storm damage and speaks to an aspect of the great character of Kansas City.
Please, no giant sculptures of burnt ends. But that’s just me.
Huffingtonpost.com recently listed Kansas City as one of the top five U.S. cities that should be on your radar.
Exiting the airport shouldn’t elicit, “Is that a broken radar tower?”
Rather, it should build visitors’ anticipation of seeing our City of Fountains instead of bursting bubbles.
Susan Harman
Kansas City
Kemper’s future
Unfortunately, the press is led to believe that all supporters of the American Royal are proponents of the current board’s desire to tear down Kemper Arena (11-4, A1, “Threat preceded Kemper decision”).
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Kemper Arena is a unique piece of architecture worth saving. Monies allocated to tearing down the building would be better spent restoring and maintaining it. Expecting tax payers to foot the bill for new buildings at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, rather than utilizing Kemper Arena, is irresponsible.
If the current board is threatening to move the American Royal if Kemper is not demolished, the current board needs to be replaced with a group of supporters who are more practical and less arrogant.
And, the idea that Kemper needs to be destroyed because there isn’t sufficient room for a BBQ that takes place one week out of the year makes one wonder, “How long before we can get a new board of directors?”
Theresa Hook Barton
Mission Hills
Security at KCI
I recently went through Kansas City International Airport’s Transportation Security Administration screening.
Without realizing it, I walked through with an open bottle of water, half-consumed, and two more full bottles.
The bottles went through the X-ray scanner and passed without an issue.
If I had malicious intents, it would not have been difficult to act upon them.
This greatly disturbed me.
We dump millions into funding and put ourselves through X-ray scanners that might be linked to higher rates of cancer, and I could get through with what should have been banned.
This is unreasonable.
Cole Stevens
Gladstone
Angry voter
Disturbing fliers received Saturday completely upended the driving issues in this week’s election for my wife and me.
Two mailers, one from a political party we’ve historically supported, published multiyear voting histories of ourselves and neighbors.
They made statements like: “Responsible citizens vote and are watching to ensure that you do your duty” and “We may call after the election to discuss your voting experience.”
Apparently, threatening public humiliation is the new tactic of both parties and PACs and a vivid example of why privacy of personal records on the Internet matters.
Public shaming attempts to undermine our freedom to choose and is underpinned by the belief it’s OK for others to be sacrificed as long as it achieves “my” objective or forces others to live by “my” values.
That this is embraced by political parties is frightening.
Saturday’s mail angered our household and cost the party behind them votes they were previously assured of receiving. It shifted the focus of the election from the economy, health care and local issues to protecting the capacity of citizens to make private choices.
If that vanishes, it seems hard to picture how democracy itself can exist.
Tom Daniels
Lenexa
Library experience
I was just wondering what will become of the world’s beautiful library buildings and the librarians many of us remember as persons of authority.
On a recent visit to request a book at the Kansas City Public Library Plaza Branch, I presented an expired library card to the librarian on duty, who with full authority directed me to another counter to make application for a new card.
When I complied, my new card was duly issued, and I was back in business.
I am just wondering what the younger e-book readers are missing when they don’t have a library experience like that to share.
Edward “Gomer” Moody
Kansas City
This story was originally published November 5, 2014 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on the congressional Ebola hearing, BOTAR diversity and Missouri taxes."