Readers share thoughts on Bishop Finn, F. Glenn Miller Jr. and the Keystone pipeline

Bishop Finn must go

I am a practicing Catholic in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and am embarrassed to have to say that (11-15, A1, “Bishop is on church agenda”). How large of an ego must our bishop have to ignore the criticism heaped on him, even on “60 Minutes,” and then not resign?

Bishop Robert Finn has a large martyr complex, but I did not know it went to this extent.

Please, Bishop, do the Christian thing for your flock and its priests and resign.

David Lewis Biersmith

Kansas City

Unnecessary coverage

I was very disappointed to see F. Glenn Miller Jr. on the front page of the paper Nov. 16, “‘Every Jew in the world knows my name now.’”

I can’t imagine why The Star would give him such a powerful opportunity to spread his message of hate. There was nothing informative about the article.

It merely gave a crazy man a chance to go out in a blaze of glory. It’s just what he wanted.

He senselessly murdered three innocent people.

Why would The Star give him a platform to crow about it?

Heather Schlozman

Prairie Village

Keystone pipeline

Why in the world would we dig a trench across our nation through some of our most valuable crop land and delicate water systems so that Canada can squirt oil through it down to Louisiana and ship it to other countries (11-18, A2, “Keystone pipeline”)?

Canada must be pretty smart, because government officials in that country are sure not going to dig a trench through their own valuable crop land and delicate water system.

I would like to see our politicians standing up for America rather than doing Canada’s bidding.

Arthur Basler

Lee’s Summit

Mission: WWJD

To the City Union Mission: What would Jesus do (11-17, A4, “Gay marriage issue spurs decision by shelter in KC”)?

Joe Hawblitzel

Kansas City

Santa, Easter Bunny

A gentleman wanted to know about Kansas City Councilman Michael Brooks and whether he would repay the city for legal fees pertaining to his investigation (11-13, A5, “Official accused of assault”).

Indeed, Brooks and Bishop Robert Finn will repay legal fees that were part of their investigations. Now let me tell you about Santa and the Easter Bunny.

Mike Crawford

Kansas City

Democratic shakeup

Democratic National Committee leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz, after leading us to a historic pounding in the November elections, says our party has problems, and she promises to conduct a top-down shakeup.

A mirror would be the perfect place to start.

Lee Allen

Kansas City

Obama’s arrogance

President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have dropped because Obama has failed to deliver on all fronts.

Obama was elected because the idea of him was appealing. He was going to heal the nation by bringing the different factions together.

He didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize for an accomplishment but for the potential he represented.

In the first days of his presidency, his “I won” attitude put the Republicans on notice that he didn’t care what they wanted.

After bribing Democratic senators to endorse the Affordable Care Act, he rammed it through Congress.

This sealed his fate. The tea party was created as a response to Obama’s my-way-or-the-highway attitude.

Instead of uniting the country, he divided the nation into small voting segments so that he could pander to them.

Telling groups of people they are oppressed and giving them someone to blame is an easy way to win elections.

Unfortunately, it is a poor governing style.

With his suppression of the economy, failure to secure our borders, failure in foreign affairs and the many scandals within his administration, Obama is finally paying the price for his arrogance.

William Gray

Olathe

Useless government?

Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick informs us that government employees produce nothing (11-17, A4, “Lawmakers ponder budget problems”). He seems to forget that teachers, firefighters, health-care professionals, maintenance workers, law-enforcement personnel, engineers and scientists work for the state.

State employees provide services for deaf, blind and disabled people. They work for the departments of wildlife and parks, tourism, water quality, emergency medical services and others that improve the quality of life for Kansas residents.

Government salaries provide income throughout the state. Demand, not low taxes, encourages employers to hire.

It appears that the only government employees who provide nothing useful are legislators like Ray Merrick.

Catherine Bowser

Overland Park

Tax leadership

For those of you who have written letters about how the sky is falling in Kansas because taxes have been lowered, there is a simple solution. Tax yourselves.

If your state income-tax bill is $2,000, send in $3,000. Get enough people who think like you to do the same, and if there is truth in your letters, all the ills that perplex Kansas will be cured.

Anyone who asks for taxes to be raised on others, as most of the letters do, but is not willing to raise his own (I’ve seen no letters from such volunteers) is a hypocrite. Chief of these are the members of the editorial board.

These folks could show real leadership and put their money where their pens are. Next time they write an editorial blasting lower taxes, include copies of their tax returns showing the extra they paid. That’s leadership.

Mike Sienicki

Farley, Mo.

Put gun safety first

When I turned 15, my dad agreed to get me a rifle, a Winchester .22-caliber single-shot with open sights and an arm sling.

He put a thumb tack on the wall and positioned me on my belly 10 feet away. His direction was to put the target on top of my front sight, cock my unloaded rifle and slowly pull the trigger.

After several weeks of practice, we went to an indoor range with real ammunition.

When my dad thought I understood gun responsibilities, he approved of my joining our high school rifle club. We religiously followed strict National Rifle Association safety rules.

Times have changed. Now the NRA promotes guns for children and urges them to shoot all kinds of automatic weapons. Although I am sorry for the gun instructor who put an Uzi in the hands of a 9-year-old, I am more sorry for this little girl who will always have the memory of killing another human being.

If her memory ever fails her, she can look at the videotape made by her unthinking parents.

Carl B. Foster

Warrensburg, Mo.

Licensing guns

It is a Class C felony to own and openly carry a switchblade knife in Missouri. Yet, laws carry no penalty for those who own and openly carry a 30-round clip AR-16.

Such a rifle can kill or wound scores of persons within seconds. Under the best circumstances, for one who wields a switchblade in anger, it would take at least 10 minutes to inflict such horrible damage, giving authorities ample time to mitigate such damage and others to run clear of the danger.

Now, will someone please explain the sense in such logic?

Stop the insanity. Treat guns like automobiles: mandate licensing, registration and owner liability insurance. The law regulates switchblade knives and automobile ownership but not gun ownership.

The time for such laws is long overdue. Now that makes sense to me, and it should to all law-biding citizens and gun owners.

Tom Davis

Merriam

This story was originally published November 20, 2014 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on Bishop Finn, F. Glenn Miller Jr. and the Keystone pipeline."