Readers share thoughts on the Republican victory, guns and immigration
GOP victory
OK, so we won. Now what are we going to do about it?
Are we going to be a party that pushes useless legislation knowing it won’t get passed just to embarrass the president and the Democrats? Or are going to pass sensible legislation that we can make a case for with the American people even against the hysterical groanings of the Democrats in Congress, the media and the White House?
Have no doubt this election and how we treat it will go a long way to getting us victory in 2016 and a GOP president. So, ladies and gentlemen of Congress, treat this opportunity with the seriousness it deserves and the respect it demands. Don’t fall into the trap of the extreme right and try to pass bills that we have no chance of getting passed.
Listen to the moderates on both sides and do things to improve education, lower unemployment, reduce the deficit and repair the damage that has been done to our country these past six years. Above all else, be leaders that we can be proud of and support and want to re-elect.
Jerry Harper
Lenexa
Embarrassed Kansan
As a proud parent of three children who attend public schools and as a spouse to an award-winning educator, I could not be more disappointed with the election results. I can honestly say, without hesitation, that I’m disgusted and embarrassed to be a Kansan.
Sterling Hammett
Overland Park
Gun State of America
President Barack Obama recently spoke about terrorism in the Middle East. It seemed so ironic that after his speech on our TV stations, I found programs featuring violence, guns and blood.
And to add to this culture of violence, in Missouri, our legislature voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto on open-carry weapons. Does that sound like bullying, if not terrorism?
Sylvia Smith
Lee’s Summit
Illegal immigration
There are illegal immigrants entering the United States through Mexico. These people are supposed to be the poor and downtrodden who are looking for a better life, yet they have the money to pay Mexican coyotes $3,000-$5,000 to get them to the border.
Now it appears these illegal immigrants are being allowed to fly on commercial aircraft with only their orders to appear before an immigration court as identification.
Can someone explain how these poor, tired, hungry, yearning-to-breathe-free individuals have the money to pay the coyotes to bring them to this country and to buy airline tickets once they get here?
John Lovelace
Olathe
Close U.S. borders
I think as an offspring of legal immigrants and citizens of the United States, I can honestly say we need to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country today and every day hereafter.
Stanley Wayne Beck Jr.
Lee’s Summit
Changing U.S. Navy
A few weeks ago, during a news conference at the Department of Defense, a member of the press asked the spokesman, a rear admiral, a technical question on carrier-based aircraft operations against the Islamic State.
To my dismay, the admiral told the questioner he had no technical answer because he had never served on a ship.
As a Navy veteran of the 1960s, I ask myself how is this possible? Has the U.S Navy been transformed from a meritocracy to a plutocracy?
I just remembered that over the past 30 years or so, our military has been transformed into a laboratory for social experimentation rather than a lethal force for extermination of anyone who dares threaten the United States.
Ricci Ballesteros
Kansas City
Guns for protection
When going anywhere in public, I love the protection of an armed mate. Signs prohibiting guns tell thugs, “No one here is armed! Come have your way with us.”
Picture four couples going for a Harley ride, stopping at a rest area to stretch their legs, and some thug steps out of a car with a gun demanding wallets, clothes, keys and more. Eight people are at the mercy of one thug because none of them is armed.
Thank God for the overwhelmed police chiefs who admit they are happy for law-abiding, armed citizens who have the right to protect themselves and do it.
People who shouldn’t have guns will always find ways to get them.
This anti-gun crap is just that.
The wife of Fox News contributor “Anti-Gun” Juan Williams was accosted earlier this year and told the press she wished she’d had a gun.
Darla Lynn Hoggard
Tonganoxie
Free TV mute rights
As free Americans, we can use the mute buttons on our televisions. I have used them for years.
It is an easy fix for young people whose ears don’t need to hear about Viagra or anything else that might be offensive.
Julianne Birmingham
Shawnee
EPA’s heavy hand
I wish everyone could enjoy dealing with the Environmental Protection Agency.
I worked in municipal government for 17 years. I spent many hours talking to and working with the EPA. It is truly a government agency gone wild.
EPA officials read the rules, then make statements like, “I think you need to do this” or “This is how I interpret the law.”
Don’t get me wrong; they work hard at rule interpretation. But they also throw their weight around. If U.S. taxpayers knew the passed-on cost added to water, sewer and solid-waste fees to stay in compliance with EPA rules, they would be shocked.
For instance, many people don’t realize the groundwater around landfills must actually be cleaner than the water we drink. Yes, it is tested for more parameters than most drinking-water tests.
Greg Decker
Parkville
Iraq mess, apology
In my wildest imagination involving the Islamic State and Iraq, former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will someday walk the streets of Baghdad, apologizing for the disaster they so foolishly and arrogantly unleashed.
They might have the decency to apologize to us, too.
Charles Downing
Roeland Park
Same-sex marriage
Posting the Ten Commandments in a courthouse or allowing prayer in school is apparently a violation of the separation of church and state. Gay marriage, however, doesn’t fit into that category because it is a self-serving, liberal cause.
Don’t most people get married in a church in a state?
I believe homosexual couples have every right to file taxes together, plan end-of-life issues and have insurance plans. A legal civil union should suffice.
According to the Bible, which defines marriage simply but clearly, it is between a man and a woman. Let’s leave it at that.
Have a civil union, anytime, anywhere, and I wish you every happiness and success.
Brook Harness
Smithville
Mischaracterization
The Kansas City Star on Oct. 25 published a Religion News Service article by David Gibson, “Vatican family debate blasted.” The headline and the article are an inaccurate representation of Archbishop Charles Chaput and what he actually said in the aftermath of a lecture Oct. 20.
The archbishop was not critical of the Holy Father, the Vatican or the recent synod. Additionally, the article focuses more on the synod than the actual talk, which is very disappointing. It misleads the casual reader who did not attend the lecture or read the text.
The “confusion is of the devil” comment was part of a response to a question from the audience and not from the formal text. Furthermore, that comment was a criticism of those who used the draft report from the synod out of context to reinforce their own opinions and agendas.
The Religion News Service piece was not an accurate reflection of reality. It mischaracterizes both Archbishop Chaput and what he said. That’s problematic and unfair.
Kenneth A. Gavin
Director
of Communications
Archdiocese
of Philadelphia
This story was originally published November 7, 2014 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on the Republican victory, guns and immigration."