Readers react to prescription drugs, presidential candidates and TV recycling
Prescription drugs
This is to express my 100 percent support for Missouri House Bill 1892. It is not only sad but extremely embarrassing for me as a mature Missouri voting resident that our state is the only state that does not have a prescription drug monitoring program.
This is morally criminal and extremely hard to explain to friends and relatives in other states who have lost loved ones whose drugs came from Missouri’s doctor shopping mall, not to mention those who have died in our state because of a serious lack of elected leadership.
I firmly encourage state lawmakers to move swiftly to correct this.
Jim Bishop
Holt, Mo.
Presidential clowns
The Sen. Ted Cruz versus billionaire Donald Trump dust-up for the Republican presidential nomination is only the cartoon show before the feature event. Trump doesn’t want to be president, and Cruz isn’t qualified.
The American electorate is 65 percent middle of the road, and voters have been for decades. So when the lights dim and the curtain rises, who are the main characters?
For the Republicans, it should be Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a right-of-center, very competent politician. He has a been-there-done-that resume. He doesn’t spread the BS.
On the center and center left is Democrat Hillary Clinton. She’s intelligent, has a resume that is exceptional and also doesn’t BS.
We could save mega-loads of drama and money over the next few months by narrowing the presidential contest to these two and eliminate the clowns clogging the TV airwaves
Paul Comerford
Blue Springs
Recycling old TVs
After reading the second paragraph of Dan Maginn’s Jan. 17 story, “Bigger, louder, cheaper: The TV sets of my life,” about his new television, I was disappointed in the way he disposed of this piece of electronics.
Mr. Maginn placed a very flawed television at his curb with a note saying it worked. How is this different from the unauthorized dumping that goes on in our city?
With just a short Google search Mr. Maginn and/or his editor could have learned about responsible recycling sites available to all citizens in Kansas City.
Melanie Mathews
Kansas City
Capital punishment
Tony Rizzo’s Jan. 19 article, “Missouri’s execution rate expected to slow down,” is good news but should not deter the efforts of Missouri citizens to fully abolish the death penalty. Although some say the death penalty is a deterrence, evidence can demonstrate lower murder rates in non-death-penalty states.
Other important matters of race, mental illness or limitation (at least two executions last year were of brain-damaged and mentally ill individuals), innocence (one last-minute commutation of a demonstrably innocent man in October) and justice concern all those who support abolition.
But for many of us, above all, in a culture fraught with violence, state-sanctioned killing is a moral issue. Society can be protected from danger without succumbing to the very action that led to murder convictions: taking a life.
The classic question persists: Why do we kill people to show that killing people is wrong? Missouri citizens, tell our legislators that it is time to abolish the death penalty and rise above the illusion that more death will stop death.
Make your voice heard.
Rev. Jane Fisler
Hoffman
Convenor
Missouri Clergy Alliance
for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
Raymore
Politically correct
Much of the most-recent Republican debate focused on the problem of political correctness and what an impediment it is to searching out and destroying terrorists.
As far as I can understand, the GOP presidential candidates use “political correctness” as a euphemism for the federal government obeying our Constitution and the laws of the United States.
The thought of the government not obeying our laws horrifies me.
Apparently, most of the candidates except for Sen. Rand Paul are for disregarding the Constitution and the laws of the U.S.
The government’s actions would be better described as “law-abiding” rather than politically correct.
Denigrating the government for obeying our laws is shocking.
Asserting that their presidency would not obey the laws of the United States hopefully is a losing proposition.
Chris Roesel
Roeland Park
This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to prescription drugs, presidential candidates and TV recycling."