Readers react to Kansas budget, minimum wage, Gov. Brownback
Destroying Kansas
The attitude of the Kansas governor and Legislature toward the budget mess this year, which they created in the first place, has seemed eerily familiar. But I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
The connection finally came to me. They sound just like the Army major’s explanation of the bombing of Ben Tre, Vietnam, quoted in Peter Arnett’s 1968 Associated Press story: “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.”
They seem to be getting close to that goal.
Jan Parkinson
Prairie Village
Minimum-wage law
When the only issue being discussed about the minimum wage is how much, it implies that the fundamental questions have been settled. Are private property rights being recognized, respected and protected with the passage of minimum-wage laws?
I suggest property rights are being violated with any minimum-wage laws. The questions of how minimum-wage laws affect the concept of and understandings of private property rights are ignored, and further discussion is closed.
Any basic understanding of economics concerning the elements of supply and demand and price reveals concepts that work as reliably and consistently as the law of gravity. Any of those components can be coercively altered by law, but the inevitable resulting economic consequences will be revealed and cannot be evaded.
A minimum-wage law is coercively altering the free-market price component in economics. Anyone voting for legislation intended to alter the laws of gravity would be considered foolhardy, yet those who vote to alter the laws of economics are considered caring and wise, having only good intentions, and as someone to be listened to.
Lee Maxwell
Prairie Village
True believers
One of my favorite books is Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer.” He describes the true believer as an ideologue who clings to his beliefs regardless of where they lead.
Kansas’ governor is clearly one of them.
An interesting aspect of belief systems is that they are circular rather than linear. That is, left- and right-wing extremists have more in common with each other than with moderates of either side.
That is why raving liberals become old raving conservatives or vice versa. They make life interesting for the rest of us.
Rae Ann Nixon
Kansas City
Media credibility
Recent revelations regarding George Stephanopoulos and donations to the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative in recent years totaling upward of $75,000 raise questions about his impartiality and his role with ABC News and its 2016 election coverage.
Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House communications director, is an on-air personality for “Good Morning America” and works on ABC’s “This Week.”
Concerns were voiced years ago about Stephanopoulos and his three-decade relationship with the Clintons, but the recent admission has renewed concerns about his credibility to cover the upcoming election cycle.
Stephanopoulos has a $105 million contract from ABC, so the solution as to how he can redeem himself is clear. George should make $75,000 donations to charities affiliated with all potential GOP candidates.
Certainly, George would be honored to support surgeon Ben Carson’s scholars fund, which has provided millions in scholarships to students across the nation, or groups supported by Sen. Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, such as the Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic and Children of the Americas, which offer eye care to Kentuckians and children around the world.
Stephanopoulos’ contributions would go a long way to proving his credibility.
Hampton Williams
Columbia, Mo.
Sad times in Kansas
Some Kansas school districts decided to close early because of a lack of funds. The state Legislature approved a bill banning using welfare money for cruises.
Am I the only one who is puzzled? State funds are not doled out to pay for luxuries.
How did we come to such a sad turn of events?
Margaret Murphy
Kansas City
Costly ER mixup
Overland Park Regional Medical Center is creating a trend locally: the opening of freestanding emergency rooms that customers can and do mistake as urgent care facilities.
I took my granddaughter to the new facility operated by OPRMC in Merriam and asked whether it would be possible to get a prescription written for her cough. This is obviously not an emergency.
One would expect that the staff would have simply explained that it was solely an emergency room and not an urgent care. Instead, she was diagnosed with bronchitis and given two prescriptions.
We were never warned that our insurance and co-pay would not cover the fees. Then the bill came. We were charged more than $1,700 for a brief exam and prescription.
The administrator defends the actions by claiming the emergency room is “not allowed to refuse care to anyone” and thus apparently not allowed to inform the patients that they are in the wrong place.
We are not the only ones to have confused the two services. There have been so many complaints in Texas that the legislature is considering a law addressing the matter.
I just wanted to warn the locals.
Shannon Ransdall
Merriam
Parker column
Bravo to first lady Michelle Obama for working with the Peace Corps to develop the new worldwide educational initiative “Let Girls Learn,” and to Kathleen Parker for writing about it in her July 2 column, “Michelle Obama’s evolving plans for girls’ education.”
Noting that millions of school-age girls worldwide are denied access to education, Obama has pointed out that this lack of learning deprives the girls and their families, communities and ultimately their countries.
Parker writes that to help remedy this situation, Peace Corps volunteers will work with non-governmental organizations and non-profit partners to mentor girls, especially adolescents, to help them stay in school and avoid pitfalls such as genital cutting, forced marriage and childbirth.
Already, More magazine and its parent company, Meredith Corp., have signed on, and Obama is hoping for more corporate partners. The initiative will also target American girls, hopefully motivating them to be hungry for education and self-betterment.,
How commendable that the first lady, who already has put her stamp on offering healthier food choices to our youth, now turns her energy to helping more young people, especially girls, develop the skills and amass the knowledge that will help them help themselves and everyone their lives touch.
Janelle Lazzo
Roeland Park
Incredible patience
Attorney George Haley, who died May 13 at age 89, was an extraordinary man who made a powerful impact on the world. He was a husband, father, attorney and ambassador.
Haley made tremendous sacrifices to attend college and promote racial harmony by integrating the University of Arkansas Law School in 1949. He endured unbelievable isolation and personal assaults just to earn a degree.
Despite the horrendous treatment he received, he graduated with honors, and in his words, “I wasn’t scarred at all.”
His brother, Alex Haley, author of “Roots,” wrote about his law school ordeal in the Reader’s Digest March 1963 edition, and the article was reprinted in 2012. “The Man Who Wouldn’t Quit” was an appropriate title because Haley refused to quit no matter how terrible the treatment.
Haley’s father encouraged him by telling him to “be patient with them. Give them a chance to know you.” Haley’s incredible patience and resolve paid off.
He graduated with honors, and some of those students who harassed him in college later became some of his closest friends.
Perhaps if we take Haley’s father’s advice and just get to know people, there would be less racial animosity.
I am glad that I knew George Haley. What a man.
Virginia Kirkwood
Kansas City, Kan.
This story was originally published July 6, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to Kansas budget, minimum wage, Gov. Brownback."