Readers share thoughts on Bishop Robert Finn, President Barack Obama and incumbents
Bishop Finn’s future
A judge will release Bishop Robert Finn from the terms of his probation, and the bishop will then feel like any Catholic who goes to confession, admits his faults, does his penance and approaches life with renewed vigor.
He will then be able to begin to fully involve himself in saving the souls of his flock. Let us all put this sad chapter behind us and glorify God in all that we do.
Jim Fern
Overland Park
Pooh as Rambo
Believing President Barack Obama’s empty pontification about the Islamic State or former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s mewling about not being allowed to capture Osama bin Laden or that former president Jimmy Carter ever had any intention of ending the Iranian hostage crisis is like imagining Winnie the Pooh as Rambo or Tinker Bell in the U.S. Marine Corps.
On second thought, Pooh and Tinker are vastly more capable of doing just those things than Obama, Clinton and Carter are of ever doing theirs. Liberals and earthworms — same spine, same domain.
Len Stephens
Maryville, Mo.
Oust incumbents
Every election cycle people use the phrase “kick the bums out.” What they mean is someone else’s bums.
So the election success of incumbents is a scary 80-plus percent, and some are in for decades — like Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, living in Washington, D.C., area and enjoying the perks of the office.
So let’s lead the charge and kick our bums out. They’ve had their chances and have functioned miserably.
It’s time for new blood, and if the new people who are elected don’t improve the situation, we can kick them out. Start with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, whose philosophy has done nothing for Kansas. You know the rest.
Herman Kirkpatrick
Leawood
Laws restricting vote
Election Day is near. Most of us are tired of candidates’ advertisements and will be happy to vote and get this election behind us.
However, some citizens will not be able to vote because of the restrictive voter-identification laws. Recently, an opinion was offered by U.S. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner in response to a lawsuit arising from a voter-identification law enacted in Wisconsin.
Posner is a conservative jurist appointed by President Ronald Reagan and a highly regarded legal mind.
Posner writes, “There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens.”
He was highly skeptical of arguments in support of such laws to avert fraud. Posner stated they are “a mere fig leaf for efforts to disenfranchise voters.” He wrote that many of the states that impose the strictest regulations are conservative.
Sad but true.
Ken Strange
Kansas City
Great VA service
I’ve been going to the Department of Veterans Affairs since June 2010 and have had nothing but excellent care.
The VA put me in touch with the Missouri Veterans Commission for financial aid. The commission granted me aid, starting June 2012.
I received this income for two years before receiving Social Security disability.
In June 2012, I was diagnosed with spinal degenerative stenosis.
Already having coronary artery disease, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea and lower back, legs and neck pain, I was labeled 100 percent disabled.
In August 2012, my submission for Social Security disability was rejected. After obtaining legal counsel, my case was resubmitted for Social Security disability. This took two years for approval.
Oddly, Social Security disability does not accept VA doctors’ reviews. Does this mean that vets get inferior care?
Waiting months to get an appointment is incomprehensible. Upon receiving a VA card, vets can receive care at any emergency room in the U.S., VA or otherwise.
You have 72 hours to report your private-sector ER visit to the VA, and it is covered.
Rod Fetters
Blue Springs
Seeking answers
To the people who want my vote: Don’t rag on your opponent. Don’t promise me pie in the sky.
Tell me how you feel about these things (not necessarily in this order): taxes, immigration, Social Security, the war in Afghanistan, funding for education, term limits, health care, capital punishment, abortion, gender equality, hunger in the United States and problems with Russia.
I know we won’t agree on everything, but at least I will know to whom I am giving my precious vote.
Alma Murray
Overland Park
Senator for life?
I remember when Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran ran for Sam Brownback’s Senate seat. It was a brutal campaign by identical men.
Both knew this would be a lifetime job. They fought each other over issues they agreed upon. Moran won, and I am sure he thinks he will leave the Senate in a box.
He might come back to Kansas to raise money but not to live. If Washington, D.C., area resident Sen. Pat Roberts wins re-election, Kansas will never see a senator again.
I am sure Roberts is dumbfounded by his close race. He must be saying, “Don’t those people know I am their lifetime Republican senator?”
Chris Anderson
Basehor
Police body cameras
Police use of body cameras revolves around cost versus benefit. If a police department doesn’t think the cameras are necessary, it won’t make it mandatory for officers to have them.
These cameras can be used to solve disputes involving an officer, a witness and the accused.
A great example is the recent story of the boy who was pulled over and shocked with a stun gun.
The argument is whether the young man put up a fight — in other words resisted arrest. The witnesses have different stories. Some say the person stopped was resisting; others say police used excessive force.
If the officer were equipped with a body camera, there would be no argument.
Kolin Maxwell
Overland Park
Vet’s Honor Flight
As a 90-year-old World War II veteran, I was honored to participate in the Oct. 7 Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. It was the most heartwarming trip of my life.
There were hundreds of smiling, applauding greeters who welcomed us at the Washington airport. The experience brought tears to my eyes.
It was exceptional to be taken in a wheelchair to all of the wonderful veterans memorials by my beautiful honor guardian, Mrs. Mica Ward. I’m sure all of the more than 70 veterans on the trip were equally thrilled.
I was so pumped up I could hardly sleep when I got home. My wife said I was a changed man.
I can’t thank all the wonderfully courteous, efficient honor guardians and other staff and organizers (led by John Doole) enough for making this flight such a fabulous experience.
Well done. Thanks also to all the wonderful greeters at KCI, especially the schoolchildren who stayed up late to welcome us home.
I love you all.
Leslie Andrew Page
Blue Springs
How I love ...
To see monarchs
In a gentle summer breeze
Landing on a fragrant blossom ...
Or, anywhere they please;
Early morning hours ...
Just before the dawn...
When squirrels, bearing hickory nuts ...
Scurry on the lawn;
A farmers market close to home
Whose huge tent overhead ...
Shades the pumpkins and the gourds
And mum plants from some flower bed;
A harvest moon that’s rising
Just above the hill;
The sound of katydids at night ...
When all else is still;
Every year about this time
Fall colors that unfold ...
How I love ... each autumn ...
With a love ...
That never shall grow old!
Dee Ann Foley Doxsee
Kansas City
This story was originally published October 14, 2014 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on Bishop Robert Finn, President Barack Obama and incumbents."