Readers react to Missouri’s water, immigration and Gov. Sam Brownback
Missouri’s water
Protecting the heartland’s streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, helps our communities and is vital to our health, safety and quality of life.
The Clean Water Act also protects rivers and streams — including the Missouri, Kansas, Platte, Blue and Little Blue — along with tributaries such as Shoal Creek, Stranger, Mill, Cedar and Indian Creek, which are important to water quality, recreation, wildlife habitat, flood abatement and American agriculture.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have worked together to protect streams and wetlands that are scientifically shown to have the greatest effect on downstream water quality through a new Clean Water Rule.
Clean and reliable water is an economic driver for agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, recreation and energy production.
Farms across America’s heartland depend on water for livestock, crops and irrigation.
We listened to the public, reviewed scientific data and made changes to the final rule as part of our commitment to getting it right. The Clean Water Rule will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Visit www.epa.gov/cleanwaterrule to learn more about the final rule and the Clean Water Act.
Mark Hague
EPA’s Acting
Region 7 Administrator
Kansas City
Immigration pluses
One way to solve the problem of illegal immigration would be to make it easier for people to immigrate legally. Most of the illegal immigrants are looking for jobs so they and their families can live better lives.
The United States used to welcome people like this, and this policy was good both for them and for the country.
In the past, many immigrants made major contributions to our welfare.
We would have been deprived of these benefits if we had restricted immigration in the past as we do today.
Clyde Herrin
Bonner Springs
Brownback’s future
Rumor has it that Gov. Sam “The Sham” Brownback plans to run for U.S. Sen. Pat Robert’s seat in 2020 and that Brownback has presidential aspirations, as well.
Here’s a word of advice for Gov. Brownback.
Given your disastrous leadership record and unpopularity among Kansans, you should never run for public office again.
You are a laughingstock not only in Kansas but nationwide.
Jane Toliver
Leawood
Religious freedom
Much local religious talk is focused on American atheists’ drive to establish a “freedom from religion” movement. The initiative, however, is a manufactured one, like voter fraud in Kansas.
Americans have always enjoyed this liberty. Colonials were free to join or reject their neighbors’ religion.
When the U.S. constitutional framers got to the subject of religion, they prohibited Congress from establishing religion or prohibiting the freedom to practice it. Implied in that proviso is the freedom not to be religious at all.
In 1802, Thomas Jefferson sealed the issue for public education with his “wall of separation” comment in letters to sympathetic Baptist groups. Later, he argued for religion-free civil service.
In 1947, a Protestant group became a champion for fairness to non-religious students in public schools and on keeping public places free of religious practices. In 1963, American Atheists organized and took on these issues.
Non-theism is a worthy choice when made on the basis of free thinking, so why encumber that with hostility toward religion? Ironically, in adding “freedom from religion” to their agenda, atheists have unwittingly become partners with religion.
Temp Sparkman
Kansas City
KC minimum wage
As pastor of Greater Gilgal Baptist Bible Church, I’ve been very concerned about our community’s low-income families. Our congregation knows and has lived the stories of many who work full time but must still be dependent on governmental assistance programs (7-6, A1, “KC’s minimum wage proves a sticky issue”).
Should we allow people in our city to continue to work for 1960 wages because of threats from the Missouri legislature or other speculative fears? You answer that.
Many businesses, large and small, are selfishly unwilling to share a fair portion of their profits with those who make their profits for them. However, they have no problem adjusting for other business cost increases.
Our dysfunctional legislature helps businesses keep operating costs down by keeping the minimum wage unfairly low. It’s time for our City Council to help minimum-wage employers mature past a Simon Legree mentality and pay employees a just, livable wage.
The current minimum wage is insufficient for an individual trying to raise a family or just live. An incremental yearly increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 is definitely right and reasonable.
Call your City Council persons right away and encourage them to support this needed, respectable and dignified minimum-wage increase.
Pastor Lloyd D. Fields
Kansas City
Minimum wage
As a member of the Worker Rights Board of Jobs with Justice I have participated in many of the dialogues on the increase of the minimum wage. I hardly understand how this can be a debate or a matter for arbitration as the goals of each side are incompatible.
We are told the role of business is to make money. The role of government is to govern for the common good and protect its most vulnerable citizens.
If we had waited for white male propertied slave owners to free their slaves and give the rest of us the right to vote we would not have needed the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act. If we wait for business to increase the minimum wage of their employees to a livable wage we are deluding ourselves.
The role of our elected City Council is to govern for the common good.
It is to support a livable wage for the most vulnerable underpaid workers/citizens.
This can prevent decades of future intergenerational poverty in our city.
Alice Kitchen
Kansas City
Insurance profits
On the one hand, Aetna says that high costs have forced a 22 percent rate increase to earn a profit on Affordable Care Act policies in Missouri (7-4, A1, “Health insurers request hikes”). At the same time, Aetna offers $37 billion for Humana, a takeover that would make Aetna the nation’s second-largest health insurer.
I’m sure we’ll hear the politicians’ usual ranting about the Affordable Care Act.
Don’t expect these politicians to question the shocking size of the $37 billion offer or to ask about the expected profits from the merger.
Robert Florance
Kansas City
Clinton’s tactics
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s aides roping off reporters during her appearance in a recent parade was the classic rope a dope (in this instance, dopes).
It doesn’t take a member of Mensa to figure out why this tactic was employed. Clinton did not want to answer tough questions for which she has no response outside one of her carefully choreographed appearances.
This tactic, direct from the playbook of President Barack Obama, has been successful in the past. Lying, stonewalling and allowing the clock to run out has been useful during much of this administration, so why wouldn’t it be useful for Clinton as well.
Politicians who think they are above the law expect public apathy and eventual loss of interest to make everything go away.
The left has long considered most Americans are stupid. An architect of Obamacare even publicly affirmed this belief.
Could they be right? It looks as though Clinton will continue to keep the acolytes of the left (commonly referred to as the press and mainstream media) in line and at her bidding as they grovel for any tidbit of information.
Until her coronation, Clinton runs the show. Let’s hope stupidity doesn’t prevail.
Scot Ewing
Blue Springs
This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to Missouri’s water, immigration and Gov. Sam Brownback."