Readers share thoughts on the IRS, Kris Kobach, Gov. Brownback
IRS manipulation
The Internal Revenue Service can audit a person as far back as seven years. However, the IRS claims it has lost Lois Lerner’s two years of emails and, in fact, that officials can’t keep emails longer than six months?
Time to go to a Fair Tax system and get rid of the IRS. The government is supposed to serve the American people. Never before have Americans been so unsure of their government’s ability to protect them from this kind of fraudulent behavior and to protect our nation.
This government is failing the American people. If the government were a private industry, nature would take its course and the government would not have any “customers,” thereby becoming the house of folding cards it truly is.
The IRS is just a scare tactic to those of us who try to obey the law and pay our taxes. The other 40 percent who do not pay their fair share are given free this or that to keep them voting for this administration. We are all being manipulated by this government.
Kathy Dix
Fairway
Kobach at work
As we’ve watched Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach try to require that a Democratic Party nominee’s name go on the ballot for the U.S. Senate seat, don’t forget that two years ago this same public servant conducted hearings on whether to strike President Barack Obama’s name from the 2012 presidential ballot.
Scott Michie
Overland Park
Kansas leadership?
Apparently, the GOP politicians in Kansas think they can do anything they please.
Gov. Sam Brownback appoints an inexperienced judge to the Kansas Supreme Court. Oh, of course, this was his former chief counsel.
Brownback cuts income taxes, which in turn will increase personal property and real estate taxes for all. He supports building the new coal plant in Holcomb. Kansas keeps the pollution while the energy is sold in other states.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach refuses to remove Chad Taylor from the ballot in the U.S. Senate race. Of course, he is on the steering committee for the re-election of Sen. Pat Roberts. Oh, and his employees told Taylor what was required to remove his name from the ballot.
Sen. Roberts voted against the Violence Against Women Act of 2013, the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act and Children’s Health Insurance Expansion. Does anyone see a pattern here?
Maybe Kobach and Brownback should move to Texas. Brownback could enjoy no income taxes.
Kobach can shoot pigs from helicopters with Ted Nugent. Sen. Roberts can sell his recliner and publicly claim Virginia as his own.
Kansas — wake up and vote.
Janet Wright
Shawnee
Renewable fuels
Bartholomew L. McLeay’s Oct. 1 As I See It column, “EPA should uphold law on ethanol,” is fuel for common sense on the Environmental Protection Agency’s ethanol law.
As NASCAR roars into town with more than 6 million miles driven on renewable E15 fuel, there’s no better time to remember that the so-called “blend wall” excuse, a favorite of Big Oil, is nothing but marketing spin. Ethanol has been powering American cars and reducing our exposure to foreign oil for years with no problems whatsoever.
In our comments to the EPA, the American Council On Renewable Energy, a NASCAR Green partner, noted: “Renewable fuels reduce fuel costs Americans pay at the pump, support over 400,000 jobs in America’s heartland and emit significantly less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than petroleum.”
Simply put, the EPA should be supporting homegrown energy, not reducing it.
Let’s put American energy first and protect the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Michael Brower
President and CEO
American Council
On Renewable Energy
Washington, D.C.
Gusewelle column
C.W. Gusewelle’s Sept. 28 column, “Let’s call abusers what they are,” was spot-on. Too often in today’s society we tend to brush aside the uncomfortable or make the choice to be politically correct so as not to offend.
When someone abuses a woman, a child or an older person, the investigation needs to be thorough and deep. Justice needs to be swift and appropriate.
An abuser’s tools can be fists or words, but all abuse leaves scars for a lifetime. Don’t judge a victim for why she stays or why she leaves. Look at the abuser who feels a cruel need for power and control over someone smaller and weaker.
The labeling or name-calling should point only and directly to the abuser.
Anne Collins Bertram
Independence
Government intrusion
Iran’s parliament has banned vasectomies and tubectomies except to save a person’s life. Isn’t it despicable how some governments meddle in the reproductive rights of its citizens?
Ron Fugate
Overland Park
Seeking life’s truth
Elie Wiesel tells in his book, “Night,” of an execution taking place in a concentration camp. Someone asks, “Where is God?”
Today, as we look out over a world in turmoil, we can ask the same question.
In the Garden of Eden, God asks of man, “Where are you?”
May I suggest that of the two questions, God’s is more significant. God was not asking for information that he did not already possess but to call man to self-examination.
From the time of the first man to the present, man is called to answer the question, “Where am I in my development as a human being?” Let me ask myself this question seriously, being careful to avoid self-deception and the sophistry of Satan.
Truth is reality. We can ignore it, struggle with it and reject it, but it triumphs in the end.
Truth finds expression in love, goodness, mercy, compassion and justice. There are times when it may appear to be defeated but will always prevail.
David F. Robinson
Overland Park
Foggy Kansas politics
To say this has been an unusual election year would be a massive understatement. An incumbent Republican is running for the governor’s office, yet 103 former GOP officeholders endorse a Democrat.
Seventy previously elected Republicans openly support an independent U.S. senatorial candidate over their party’s incumbent. In a recent statement, former State Rep. Jim Yonally summed up this group of Republicans as fiscally conservative and socially tolerant individuals.
As a former legislator (20th Senate District and 52nd House District) and talk show host for more than a decade, I have had the opportunity to serve with and work with the majority of those Republicans. While the lists Jim Yonally cited include many acquaintances and friends — including Mr. Yonally — I take strong exception to referencing this group as fiscally conservative.
I would challenge anyone to find one person on those lists of unhappy Republicans who demonstrated fiscal conservatism while in office. I’ve looked at the lists, and I can’t.
Jim Cates
Topeka
Fair wage for work
I work as a consumer-directed service home-care attendant, and I want to make sure that consumers have the best possible service. A big part of that for them is being able to remain in their own homes.
The problem is that my pay is so small that it is a struggle to pay for the basic essentials that I need to continue to do my job for the consumer. I am glad the assistance I provide enables my consumers to remain relatively independent. As a taxpayer, I also appreciate that such services save Missouri a lot of money.
However, to make sure that consumer-directed services keep working for all concerned, we need to make sure that the home-care attendants start receiving a fair wage of $11 an hour.
Maxine Moore
Kansas City
This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on the IRS, Kris Kobach, Gov. Brownback."