Letters: KC readers discuss retail winners, foreign supplies and tasteless ‘Lio’
Winners chosen
I learned something: During this time with businesses closed to foot traffic, you can’t shop for a tennis racket or a baseball glove at Dick’s Sporting Goods. You can’t shop for a fishing rod at Bass Pro Shop. You can’t shop for jeans at Macy’s. You can’t shop for a picture frame at Hobby Lobby.
But you can shop for these things and a lot more at Walmart. Who decides which businesses are financially crippled and which flourish?
- Al Christifano, Gallatin, Missouri
Wrong priority
Governors across the country have limited access to a variety of medical procedures to protect health care workers and focus medical resources on the coronavirus. These limitations affect a broad array of people and their medical conditions.
As an example, some cancer patients can’t receive time-critical and potentially lifesaving medical procedures such as colonoscopies. If you have colon cancer, the timing of these follow-up procedures is critical to long-term treatment.
Six states have restrictions on elective abortions among other medical procedures, unless the procedure is needed to protect the life and health of the mother. That sounds reasonable under the circumstances. Yet, abortion supporters and organizations such as Planned Parenthood are demanding continued access to abortions in those states, even when the health of the mother is not in question. They have gone to court in all six states to fight the restrictions.
Really? We don’t have enough death right now? Can’t the medical resources devoted to abortion refocus for a while to support virus patients? Are they truly health care providers? Evidently not. It’s absolutely sickening.
- Frank Green, Kansas City
Not made in USA
The shortage of personal protective equipment has been one of the leading stories on the national news. But what hasn’t been told enough is why it happened.
In observance of Chinese New Year celebrations, almost all Chinese manufacturers shut down their operations from mid-January to early February. Most U.S. companies order an extra month of products to cover them over this period. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, factories remained closed longer and travel restrictions in China were not lifted until early April. Thus, the perfect storm.
China’s factories are only slowly reopening. We are in a panic for protective gear. Since the U.S. no longer manufactures most of these products, we have become dependent on China. It will take considerable time for China to ramp up manufacturing and ship us what we need.
We have only ourselves to blame for becoming dependent on other countries. We must get back to manufacturing products in the U.S. to avoid this situation when the next pandemic hits. Lesson learned?
- Mark Calvert, Kansas City
Turn it around
The Star’s front-page headline Sunday was hilarious: “Kansas churches defy Kelly’s order on Easter Sunday.” It mentioned two churches that held services. One church with a capacity of 300 reported about 21 worshipers present. Please.
The headline should have been, “More than 99% of Kansas churches respect governor’s order.”
- Paul Hirth, Olathe
Place irrelevant
At least two Kansas churches held Sunday services despite the governor’s directive about limiting numbers at religious gatherings.
Is the faith of these congregants so fragile that they cannot worship without being in their church buildings? If that is the case, just being in a building won’t help them.
One pastor said, “God wants us to have church.” I am not a scholarly Christian, but I don’t think God set a requirement for a building.
- T. J. Snyder, Mission Hills
I’m not laughing
The Star publishing the comic strip “Lio” depicting the coronavirus as a character shows poor judgment. In this pandemic time, you should not make light of the seriousness of the situation.
It seems that an apology and retraction of that strip should be in order.
- Wendell Shaffer, Lee’s Summit
Back at you
The fact that the president commandeered a COVID-19 press briefing Monday to promote his campaign with propaganda and obfuscations is inexcusable.
I distinctly remember him saying in 2016: “I have embraced crying mothers who have lost their children because our politicians put their personal agendas before the national good. I have no patience for injustice. No tolerance for government incompetence of which there is so much, no sympathy for leaders who fail their citizens.”
Words are like boomerangs.
- Patrick McGarry, Overland Park