Letters to the Editor

Not one member of Congress chooses between buying food or needed medication. No members of Congress agonize over paying utility bills, rent or a mortgage because their paycheck stretches only so far because of chronic wage stagnation.

As more and more constituents fall into or near poverty, Congress chooses to battle over the Affordable Care Act (again) rather than extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.

We have seen other school shootings more than a year after the mass slayings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and no sensible gun legislation appears. Another chemical contamination materializes, and Republicans still balk at strengthening regulations for public and environmental safety.

Talk ceases regarding immigration reform. Undocumented immigrants cannot vote, and most have little money.

Beholden to corporations for campaign contributions, many congressional members turn a blind eye to the poor, disenfranchised and marginalized people, focusing instead on more tax breaks and less regulation for their Wall Street “welfare queens” who tanked our economy and took our tax dollars.

In a nation of alleged abundance, ersatz elected public servants argue over ideologies, leaving their constituents out in the cold. Some literally.

This year, the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for re-election. The choice is ours.

On a recent Saturday morning I went to Kansas City International Airport to catch a flight. The terminal was like a ghost town.

While access to my flight was relatively easy, there was little activity inside of the airport. The flight was full, but the airport seemed empty.

What good is an airport if there are no flights for people to board? It is time the Kansas City airport move into the 21st century with a modern and functional facility.

On Jan. 15, the 816 section of your paper carried an outrageous attack on federal employees, “It's time to cut off the feedbag of the public trough.” The author, Danedri Herbert, is identified as a freelance columnist.

This identifies her as one who is paid to write. The op-ed piece deserves full review for its slanted and distorted portrayal of those people who have devoted their lives to public service.

As important is an examination of the issue of who paid this freelance writer. If it was The Star, shame on you.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ “tell all” book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” answers more questions about the integrity of the writer than about the subject. An analogy is, you invite someone into your home for a stay during which you discuss matters both personal and private.

The guest then leaves and tells the whole town what a dope you are. The lesson?

No holdovers from the opposite party no matter how talented and competent. All Robert Gates has done is make it more impossible to be bipartisan.

What a shame.

This story was originally published January 28, 2014 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Letters to the Editor."