Native American remarks, bad Star editorial and Kris Kobach

A low bar

I actually thought The Star’s editorial board had written a sane and centrist opinion on the politicized judicial nomination process until it suggested the American Bar Association is an unbiased source regarding its ratings of four of President Donald Trump’s nominees. (Nov. 27, 8A, “Time to end partisan judicial battles”)

Nice try, but the middle of the political spectrum sees through your editorializing.

Donald Rau

Prairie Village

Let’s hear from you

An open letter to my Kansas congressional delegation:

Dear Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts and Rep. Lynn Jenkins,

As elected representatives of a state named for a Native American people, the site of sizable reservations and Haskell Indian Nations University and home to many other Native American residents, you are morally obligated to denounce President Donald Trump’s racist and condescending remarks at the White House on Monday. (Nov. 28, 2A, “Trump, honoring Navajos, revives shot at Warren”)

How could you possibly be complicit with this outrageous indignity? What say you?

Bob Campbell

Lawrence

Cost comparison

Kansas City wants to replace the Buck O’Neil Bridge, formerly the Broadway Bridge, to the tune of 200 million bucks (pun intended). (Nov. 22, 1A, “Could tolls return to the Buck O’Neil Bridge?”)

Think that sounds like a lot of money? The cost of one B-2 bomber (the craft that flies over Arrowhead before games) is $800 million - $2 billion figuring in development costs.

Want to fix stuff in the U.S.? Stop illegal wars and rein in the defense industry.

Woody Underwood

Kansas City

Not just the left

A Nov. 19 letter asked liberals to step up and acknowledge their desire to take away guns. (20A) So I’m here to say I support limiting firearms sales by passing tighter gun laws and enforcing comprehensive background checks.

Contrary to the writer’s assertions, this isn’t entirely a left-wing, liberal stance. Recent polls show around 90 percent of Americans favor background checks on all gun sales. I agree the current background-check system is ineffective and believe that sensible legislation is what we should aim for.

After a 1996 mass shooting in Australia, the country enacted stricter gun laws, including a buyback and bans on automatic and semiautomatic weapons. Firearm deaths declined sharply and mass shootings ceased.

Despite NRA folklore, effective legislation doesn’t demand that your guns be pried from your hands. It should, however, require a justifiable reason for possession, a waiting period, gun registry and mandatory training. These sane, reasonable steps can restore safety for all of us.

As the deaths from massacres increase, the NRA lobby donates more money to Congress to oppose gun laws.

Step up. Speak up.

Karen Staley

Leawood

One more problem

In his free campaign piece on The Star’s op-ed page, Kansas Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach laments seven examples of “the culture of corruption in Kansas.” (Nov. 28, 13A, “The culture of corruption in Kansas’ capitol”)

Kobach missed an important eighth corruption problem. Our secretary of state is paid $86,003 per year plus benefits, but he spends huge portions of his time jetting around the country helping other states draft unconstitutional statutes, serving on President Donald Trump’s bogus voter fraud commission and writing a column on Breitbart’s white nationalist website.

Meanwhile, operations of the secretary of state’s office have degraded under his regime. A time clock in that office would be a good idea, but turning out to vote next year is more practical.

Scott Gregory

Roeland Park

Eat at home

The Star listed many wonderful restaurants in its dining article Nov. 19. (8A, “Thanksgiving options for dine-in or take-out in Kansas City area”)

The American Association of Family and Consumer Science, which addresses what used to be called “home economics,” has been promoting the idea of dining in for about five years. Its focus is to engage people to plan, prepare, eat and enjoy food together.

The local chapter uses its monthly meetings to continue learning, raise money for scholarship aid and award prizes for science fair projects.

Especially in these days when food adventures are diverse and family members are obliged to pitch in because of demanding commitments, celebrating by dining in Dec. 3 for Family & Consumer Sciences Day is a unifying activity.

School classes and culinary programs are participating, as are active and retired professionals from Kansas City. Last year, about a million people took part. Join us.

Martha Field