Readers share views on Mother’s Day, Kansas gun laws and wage inequality

Mother’s Day grace

This is a message for all the men who have a loving wife and loving mother for their children. You are truly blessed and fortunate to have her.

Many men would do almost anything to have such a wife.

On Mother’s Day, do something really special for her to show your appreciation.

When the time is right, you need to get on your knees and thank the Lord for being so lucky because you are truly blessed.

Bill Bryan

Kansas City

Mother’s Day gift

This Mother’s Day, I’d like to thank all the expectant mothers who plan to donate their babies’ umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank, such as the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank.

Cord blood, usually disposed of after birth, is rich in blood-forming cells and can be used to help treat more than 70 diseases, including leukemia and other blood cancers. Cord blood donations are especially needed from African-American and Asian communities because patients in these communities have difficulty finding donor matches.

There is no cost to donate to a public cord blood bank, and the donation is safe for moms and babies. Cord blood is collected right after birth.

St. Louis Cord Blood Bank has reported receiving more than 160,000 donations from generous moms in St. Louis and surrounding areas, and it has an inventory of more than 25,000 units available for patient use.

But more donations are needed to help save more lives. Visit www.slcbb.org or bethematch.org/cord to learn more.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Kathy Mueckl, RN, BSN

Nurse Coordinator

St. Louis Cord Blood

Bank at SSM

Cardinal Glennon

Children’s Medical

Center

St. Louis

Kansas gun laws

So it’s official: The asylum is now being run by the inmates.

Kansas state Sen. Terry Bruce, wearing the 20-gallon hat of National Rifle Association lobbyist/head of the state rifle association, has been instrumental in getting a law passed confirming the misinterpreted right to carry concealed weapons without the slightest idea of knowing what’s going on.

Congratulations, Kansas Legislature, you have secured first place in late-night-comic history. For your next magic trick, make the building in which you work one of the places that allows concealed weapons.

Although some NRA members have admitted that the training is “useful,” why should I spend several hours learning facts about gun safety?

I already had to learn how to drive, even though I probably could have figured it out on my own, eventually.

Darn these laws.

I am grateful to state Rep. Melissa Rooker and Sen. Kay Wolf, who, with 44 others, voted against this ridiculous measure, thus reflecting that at least some elected officials have consciences.

I expect the 31 senators and 85 representatives who voted for it to have all kinds of excuses next time someone kills “accidentally.”

Ellen Murphy

Mission Hills

Wage inequality

The ills of our country will not be reduced until income inequality is lessened.

This statement is based upon the fact that, with rare exceptions, no modern nation or state has ever had low levels of crime, low homicide rates, low obesity rates, low divorce rates or high levels of education and literacy, and good health (as measured by average longevity) with significant income inequality.

This statement is not based upon a single study, but rather upon 20 years of research conducted by numerous agencies, colleges and research groups and summarized by two epidemiologists, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, in “The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.”

The U.S. is nearly dead last in nearly every one of these categories.

Income equality can be improved through wages, taxes and fees. Heaven knows we have enough infrastructure-improvement needs to justify work in higher-wage positions. The minimum wage is absolutely out of gear.

Outsourcing is harming our workforce more than it is helping our lifestyle, and the taxes on income for highly paid individuals are grossly out of whack.

Ask your senator and representative to support the needed tax and other changes to improve our status.

Hugh J. Taylor

Overland Park

News of Mexico

I don’t understand why The Star has almost no stories about the growing chaos in Mexico. Events there affect our city directly as refugees come north and as gangs with ties to the cartels engage in drive-by shootings.

Tamaulipas, one of the most violent states in Mexico, borders Texas. We have a right to know what is going on.

Many have no access to Spanish-language news sources.

Don Compier

Independence

Citizen Ted Cruz

I recall from studying in school that the president must be at least 35 years old, born to a U.S. citizen and born in the United States. During the 2008 election, there was a lot of ranting over the birthplace of the winner.

The winner of that election, Sen. Barack Obama, met all those qualifications. So why are the Republicans now considering a candidate who appears not to meet all the qualifications?

The best I can tell, Sen. Ted Cruz meets just two of those qualifications. He is over 35 (even though he acts like a very loud, spoiled, whiny brat who should be in permanent timeout) and is a U.S. citizen (born to a U.S. citizen).

He recently denounced his Canadian citizenship.

The only way he would have had that was to have been born a Canadian citizen or to have been born in Canada. We know his mother is a U.S. citizen and his father is a Cuban immigrant. That leaves being born in Canada and thus not eligible to be president.

To all those people screaming about seeing President Obama’s birth certificate, why aren’t you now demanding Sen. Cruz’s birth certificate also?

Carol L. Neill