Readers share views on Gov. Sam Brownback, organ donations and the religious right

Wrong experiment

The nation has watched closely the economic experiment that Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has launched. He and his conservative counterparts have touted the top-down theory for decades. The theory that what floats the yachts will cause the rowboats to rise seems to have a lot of leaks.

From the Land of Lakes, Minnesota, let us look at another economic option. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton took another tack.

When Dayton took office in 2011, Minnesota had a $6 billion deficit and unemployment was above 7 percent. His first four years in office, Minnesota increased taxes on those making more than $150,000 year, or $250,000 for couples.

It also passed a law calling for equal pay for women and raising the minimum wage. Currently, Minnesota has a surplus of $1.2 billion and unemployment below 4 percent.

Minnesota added 165,000 jobs in his first term, more than his Republican predecessor in two terms. Gov. Dayton is himself a billionaire and worked with a Republican legislature for two years.

Finally, in an effort to allow more people to vote, he helped create online registration. His tactics seem to be working.

Ken Strange

Kansas City

Legislators, drugs

What are the possibilities of getting the Kansas and Missouri legislators on performance-enhancing drugs?

Ernest Lowderman

Independence

Cartooning Kansas

Kansas: The butt of the June 7 “Doonesbury” cartoon. Does this make us the Official Laughingstock of the Nation?

Mary Ann Stewart

Paola, Kan.

Flow of state taxes

Dear Gov. Sam Brownback:

Thank you for your bold experiment. Now we know.

Taxes are what trickle down.

Nancy Brazee

Bonner Springs

Donating organs

I would like to challenge people to take organ donation seriously and become living donors.

The benefits of being a living donor are:

You remove someone from the waiting list, and you give someone a better quality of life. Technology has improved, requiring less down time,

Using a living donor is far less expensive and an organ from a living donor lasts longer than those from deceased organ donors.

A living donor can donate a kidney or part of a liver, lung, intestine, blood or bone marrow. Not all organ donations mean that the recipient will never need another organ. Not all organ donations last forever.

Living donors go through extensive testing, and unfortunately not everyone who is screened can be a donor.

Please educate yourself and consider giving someone a chance. After all, who wouldn’t want a piece of you?

Rosina Houle

Save A Life — Kansas

Lawrence

Middle-age men

The religious right needs to explain why it feels so strongly that women and gays need to be restrained legislatively. The only people I see misbehaving constantly are the straight middle-age men.

Until they support laws against adultery, their principles seem a bit weak.

Terry Cracraft

Kansas City

Royals broadcasts

Isn’t it great that the Kansas City Royals are playing so well that no one has to complain about Rex Hudler anymore?

Butch Kueser

Parkville

Raise minimum wage

I’m all for raising the minimum wage. Even making it $12 an hour here in the Midwest, with our lower cost of living than on the coasts, would be a great help to thousands of families.

As we move to some kind of increase, soon I pray, support Mayor Sly James and our City Council, who want to reach a $15 minimum by 2020. The way time flies, any small steps taken now will help cut poverty.

Barbara McCracken

Kansas City

Government dole

There is a perception that government assistance breeds dependence on taxpayer handouts. It is declared by some legislators that the only way to break this dependence on government is by tough love, with a lifetime cap ending the assistance.

It is believed that knowing unemployment benefits expire on a certain date will encourage recipients to hustle all the harder for a job.As the saying goes, “Nothing focuses the mind like a noose around your neck.”

I lack sufficient training in the social sciences to say whether these beliefs are true. But let us accept them as true.

Does it not follow that government ensuring the profit of a business will also breed dependence by that business? What will incentivize a business to become more efficient and innovative if a profit is assured by a government handout?

Shouldn’t such business handouts also have end dates? The same noose waved at poor people should be waved at dairy farmers.

Stanley Robinson

Princeton, Mo.

KC mass transit

For years, the Kansas City area has fretted over transportation problems. With our network of freeways and streets, why can’t we come up with a plan to move people?

Core4, the Mid-America Regional Council and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority are again studying scenarios for regional mass transit. The problem is a lack of population density.

Chicago has a size similar to the Kansas City area, however, its metro area has nearly 10 million people. That density allows Chicago to have a rapid transit system with peak ridership almost every day of the week.

The lack of population concentration is the biggest problem keeping the Kansas City area from having a true mass-transit system.

Years ago, a private company presented a proposal to the KCATA for connecting neighborhoods with mainline bus routes. The plan included small vans or buses connecting to Metro bus routes. KCATA required $10 million liability coverage from the private company, making the fare charge for service unfeasible.

Unless the Kansas City area were to get a million or 2 million people to move within the Interstate 435 corridor, I’d suggest that planners again investigate the neighborhood-connecting transportation system.

Paul Zolotor

Raytown

Unfair HUD rent

I moved to a U.S. Housing and Urban Development housing unit in Independence this year. HUD rent is based on a percentage of one’s income after medical expenses are deducted.

I had more than $3,000 in medical expenses in the last fiscal year not covered by insurance.

HUD of Independence refused to subtract those expenses.

I was told the amount spent in the last fiscal year was inadmissible. Only current and projected costs are allowed. I was told that if I had projected costs for the coming year they would be deducted. If they did not occur, I would have to repay the deduction at the end of the year.

As a result of this warped math, a one-bedroom HUD unit in Independence is about $200 a month more expensive than the same one-bedroom HUD apartment in Shawnee.

I am a disabled senior. If I had $200 a month of extra, undesignated funds I would not need HUD assistance.

I cannot continue to pay a monthly cost of this magnitude.

Carla Parr

Independence

Kudos to The Star

I want to thank The Kansas City Star for being a regular part of my life. I start every day with The Star, coffee, praying and enjoying the beauty of nature here in our fair city.

I especially like to complete the language puzzles, crossword puzzles, Wordy Gurdy, Scrabble, Cryptoquip and Jumble.

I most importantly want to thank The Star for continuing to feature the Rev. Billy Graham daily and the other religious features on Saturday.

In this increasingly secular world, the Rev. Graham, the “Great Lion of God,” inspires and reminds us to love one another.

He addresses the problems we all face with grace, dignity and hope — showing us compassion through God’s word, the Holy Bible.

Carol Tucker

Prairie Village

This story was originally published June 12, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers share views on Gov. Sam Brownback, organ donations and the religious right."