Readers share views on veterans, Internet access and capital punishment
Honoring veterans
It saddens me to see the media depict brave American veterans through black-and-white photos as homeless people living under bridges to the accompaniment of somber cello music and pleas for money.
True, many veterans do have problems and do need our help, but most veterans do not see themselves as victims, as the media now depict them. Rather, most combat veterans want to forget the horrors they’ve experienced, return to their families and communities, and move on.
For me and other combat veterans, returning from Vietnam was an adjustment. Although we came home perceived as broken monsters and baby killers, most of us never considered ourselves victims, and most of us silently made the best of our situations re-entering civilian life.
What veterans don’t need is feigned pity and victimization politicizing them and Veterans Affairs.
If you truly want to help veterans, demand that Congress take back its constitutional authority to declare war and demand that no American is again placed in the breech to defend corporate goals rather than defending the lives of freedom-loving people.
Tom Davis
Merriam
Controlling Internet
Should business or government be the referee for the Internet? The Federal Communications Commission made the right decision: The Internet is a utility. Rep. Kevin Yoder disagrees and says he doesn’t “know where that authority will stop.” That’s speculation.
But we’ve already seen what business does when it has no referee.
Providers want tiered access to speed and content. They want control of the throttle and brakes.
Internet transit provider Cogent admitted to intentionally slowing traffic during Comcast-Netflix negotiations. Everyone cried foul, and now Cogent claims to support net neutrality. Good for it.
But who will cry foul next time? When profit-making businesses control the Internet throttle, too often the public good is lost.
Too many of us depend on a free and open Internet. Other countries already regulate the Internet as a utility and have higher accessibility and speed and are closing the digital divide. Separating the public as on toll roads will make the digital divide worse, not better. Watch Congress. The story is not over yet. Rep. Yoder and others in Congress will try to put the throttle (or actually the brakes) in the hands of Comcast, Time-Warner and Wall Street.
Michael Henry
Kansas City
Executions’ history
Americans have consistently proved throughout history to be hypocrites when it comes to judging other countries or our own native population’s existence. The most recent example of public outrage is directed at the barbaric acts committed by Islamic extremists, including beheadings and burning alive the Jordanian pilot.
While I denounce these acts and those responsible, America has been executing citizens since the founding of our nation. I find that giving a convicted murderer a lethal injection that causes him to go into convulsions and takes four hours to kill him equally reprehensible.
The electric chair is a method of killing right out of the middle ages. Execution by firing squad is no more comforting than having someone gasping for air in a gas chamber until that person can’t breathe.
This is not old news but is occurring with the Supreme Court’s blessings. Suzanne Basso’s execution in Texas was just last year.
It has been proved time and time again that the death penalty has no effect on preventing murder. It is nothing more than revenge.
It sounds like what is happening with the extremists wanting to create an Islamic State. Vengeance for dropping bombs.
Steven Addison
Kansas City
Keystone pipeline
The Keystone XL pipeline is now commercially obsolete. It has been six years in the review process. Federal and state officials have spent time and money for review. In the end, federal officials said wait, we need more data.
While the review was going on, oil unit trains (trains with all oil cars) were put in service. This is the same idea as the unit trains of coal cars. The oil companies are moving crude from Canada to Houston for refining.
Money has been invested in rail cars, and the prices of oil products are falling. No one is now interested in investing in Keystone XL pipeline.
We now have derailment hazards, pollution from spills, higher transportation costs and fewer new jobs.
There are thousands of miles of petroleum pipelines in the United States. Most were built before the Environmental Protection Agency’s existence.
Are they safe? Are they environmentally friendly?
The old grandfathered-in ones don’t count. Just talk the new ones to death in the progressive society.
Richard Blaisdell
Kansas City
Obamacare ruling
The Star’s March 4 editorial, “Court must reject flawed argument,” urges the Supreme Court to reject the “flawed argument” that could eliminate subsidies for millions of people on Obamacare. The law clearly states that subsidies should be available through the exchanges established by the state.
The Star hopes that “logic will prevail” and Congress didn't “intend” for this to happen and finally that the “justices will do the right thing.” Wow. The Democrats wrote and passed this bill in exactly the way they intended.
They anticipated that every state would establish its own exchange to receive subsidies. It didn't happen, and now the justices are to decide what the “intent” was. This should be rejected by all nine.
They should follow the law and not emotion.
Terry Kliethermes
Leawood
Visual arts missing
Every Sunday, I look forward to the Arts & Entertainment section of The Kansas City Star to catch up on the cultural life of the city. Over the last month, there has been excellent coverage of theater, opera and symphony performances, including insightful reviews.
But I have to wonder why the visual arts have gone missing in the A&E section. Critical reviews of such exhibitions as “Piece by Piece” at the Kemper Museum or “American Soldier” at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art inform and build understanding and audiences.
At a time when Kansas City is becoming known as a visual arts mecca, why has The Star withdrawn its previously stellar coverage of such exhibitions?
As an ardent supporter of visual culture in Kansas City, Star founder William Rockhill Nelson must be looking down upon the paper and wondering the same thing.
Rebecca Ofiesh
Kansas City
Help from angel
My husband recently took our trash to the curb and fell in the snow.
A car was going by driven by an angel. The driver stopped, got out, pulled my husband to his feet, walked him to the garage and asked permission to pray for him.
He prayed asking God to strengthen my husband’s body. This angel was truly sent by God because I had no way of helping except to call 911.
Thank you, God, for sending us an angel.
Berniece Wehner
Kansas City
This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers share views on veterans, Internet access and capital punishment."