Letters to the editor: Education cuts, Postal Service kudos

Cuts to education

We are forever discouraged and fearful of the mass murders of children and their teachers as in Pakistan. But we must realize the crux of the problem — poorly educated or suppressed populations.

To paraphrase Buckminster Fuller: When humanity is illiterate, it needs leaders to understand. But with literacy, we’re in a new relationship to the universe not dependent on political or religious leadership.

So goes Pakistan, Ferguson, Mo., and communities of the like where leaders are de-funding education to benefit the wealthy by reducing taxation. We should take to heart the frequent killings and violent responses here at home, recognizing we are no different from those we criticize.

Everett Murphy, M.D.

Kansas City

Postal Service kudos

There may be some postal service workers who need more customer service training, but that is not the case for the workers at the Market Street Post Office in Lee’s Summit.

No matter what time of day, the employees greet customers with a smile. If the line is long, others come from behind to help out.

They are quick to offer whatever help is needed, whether to search the back room for a certain stamp or ask a co-worker’s opinion about the best way to mail a package. If the U.S. Postal Service needs a customer service training site for new employees, the Market Street facility is the place.

Beth Garner

Independence

Give Obama credit

I’m just wondering, with all the positive numbers that were recently revealed concerning economic growth such as job gains, higher wages and steady unemployment, will President Barack Obama get credit for this with the various policies that he has put in place?

It’s certain that he would get the blame if these numbers were reversed and had a negative effect on the economy.

David W. Brown

Grandview

Religious freedom

Near Beijing, two days before Christmas, a rural Christian congregation welded pieces of metal into a cross and hoisted it to the top of their place of worship. Within an hour township officials tore the cross down.

The Chinese Christians are being forbidden to display crosses. In the “land of the free,” America, the fear of erecting nativity scenes at Christmas, or saying “Merry Christmas” is discouraged by an anonymous group of the “offended.” This is very much like what is happening to Christians in China.

I am offended that being able to display Christian beliefs is being taken away from me. Those people trying to wipe out Christianity in America need a history lesson.

The first settlers to this country were religious refugees trying to find a place where they could practice their faith. Our religious freedom was hard won by those Christians.

Here they were promised they could openly express their religious practices. Our Founding Fathers did not establish a state religion so that everyone, not no one, had the freedom to openly express their religious beliefs.

Victoria DeBlase

Kansas City

Obama’s Cuba plan

It is no surprise that most Republicans, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, are unhappy with President Barack Obama's ground-breaking deal with the Castro government in Cuba. They say the president is selling out and is the “Appeaser in Chief.”

I realize Rubio and Cruz are two of our more junior members of the Senate, but are they too young to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall? In 1987, President Ronald Reagan famously said, “Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!” The truth was, Gorbechev didn't have to tear down the wall. The East Germans with a taste of freedom, democracy and capitalism demolished the wall themselves.

Because of the the Castro regime, the good citizens of Cuba have been denied basic economic freedoms since 1959. With the new initiatives that the U.S. initiated, I have no doubt that the “wall” in Cuba will come down as well.

Mac Taylor

Prairie Village

This story was originally published January 6, 2015 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor: Education cuts, Postal Service kudos."