Readers react to discrimination, Cecil the lion and the U.S. math team
Seeking all rights
We live in a country that espouses liberty and equality that our forefathers fought for, and yet the majority of states, including Missouri and Kansas, discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Yes, we can now marry, but we can be fired from a job or evicted from an apartment or kicked out of an establishment because of being (gasp) gay.
I wonder how people would feel and what they would do if they were persecuted legally because of their gender, religion or race?
I don’t know about others but I would sure rather have a job and a home than be married.
But there is no reason that everyone should not have it all and without having to fight for it.
It is our basic right.
Fred Holtz
Kansas City
Lion’s death outrage
I am appalled and outraged at the killing of Cecil the lion, as are many politicians, celebrities and everyday citizens (7-30, A2, “Minnesota dentist’s action ignites an Internet frenzy”).
I am also appalled and outraged at the thousands of children who die as the result of starvation and abortion by political and medical genocide.
Where is the outrage for them?
Michael Cullinan
Olathe
Praise for math team
Even though we criticize our standing in science and math compared with other countries, fortunately we have small elite groups in both these fields who are the movers and shakers saving the rest of us (7-29, A1, “Local math whiz helps USA team outsmart China”).
I cannot praise enough young Shyam Narayanan of Blue Valley West High School and his U.S. Math Olympiad team. They deserve every award, scholarship and any other accolade that the math-impaired admirers like me can supply.
Fred White
Gladstone
Guns, cars, safety
So, one of your Kansas readers (7-30, Letters) has discovered that gun ownership is a constitutional right whereas driving a vehicle is a privilege. This is Civics 101.
However, unlike your reader who made this late-to-the-game revelatory discovery, I don’t believe that is the end of the analysis.
What guns and cars have in common is even more relevant — both can cause great and irreversible destruction in an instant, including to innocents, and should not be entrusted to children, those suffering mental illnesses, extremists or those lacking sufficient training.
This is the point missed by your reader but grasped by most other commentators.
Our society would not tolerate vehicles on the road that were unlicensed (and in some states uninspected) merely because they were purchased from a private owner rather than a dealer.
Nor would it tolerate drivers who did not need a driver’s license because they had purchased a vehicle from another person rather than from a dealer.
Once the common points of guns and cars have been acknowledged, then the right/privilege question becomes merely one of strategy and tactics to keep both of these destructive forces in safe hands.
I believe this as a gun owner and a vehicle owner.
William Bradley
Overland Park
Fairy tale in Kansas
Once upon a time, there was a governor who believed he was elected to change the tax code, upend the way public schools are funded, dismantle the judicial system and change the entire way the state had been governed for decades by reasonable men and women.
He was certain of his ideas.
Worse, he was easily flattered and manipulated by people who had their own agendas.
He gave his advisers and other experts undeserved respect for their fake advice.
It was a lie, of course, that cutting taxes on the wealthiest would bring jobs and prosperity to the state. Unfortunately, the governor’s “facts” were unexamined beliefs and opinions completely ignoring the truth.
If what is happening in Kansas were a fairy tale, the honesty of a small child, speaking truth to the foolish and gullible emperor/governor, would finally be able to expose the lie. If only this were a fairy tale.
While it’s hard to see elected officials failing in their duty to their constituents, it is the people of Kansas who must act to correct the harmful legislation coming out of their statehouse.
Voting matters. Your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness depend on it. Please vote responsibly.
Bernadine Kline
Liberty
Religious freedom
Not to be outdone by ushering in the largest tax increase in Kansas history, onerous voter-suppression laws and perilous gun laws, Gov. Sam Brownback is now entertaining a religious freedom law, ensuring an endless supply of material for late-night talk-show hosts.
Given the governor’s proficiency for producing legislative train wrecks, I can only imagine what his concept of religious freedom looks like.
Isn’t it quite possible that Brownback’s proclamation of religious principles may differ from my religious principles and therefore encroach upon my religious freedom? Why not leave well enough alone?
Our Founding Fathers got it right in protecting our religious freedom by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
I believe Kansas would be better served if the governor spent his time and energy solving the state’s fiscal mess that he created and returning to a system of fair and equitable taxation of its citizens.
Ron Fugate
Overland Park
Hackers’ benefit
I find it interesting that almost as soon as the government cut funding to Homeland Security Department some Chinese hackers stepped to the plate and hit a home run.
I personally have thought my phone calls were worthy of note — especially those robo calls. I reserve some of my most colorful and noteworthy language for these occasions.
If the hackers were to use these calls as a means to study English, they would find them very beneficial.
I am sorry that our own government will not have the benefit of these spicy gems, but our loss becomes the Chinese hackers’ gains. But, not to worry, as we move into the political season of robo lies and innuendos, I am sure there will be enough colorful language flowing around for all to benefit.
On another note, as I try repeatedly to pen this copy, my computer screen keeps going blank and my machine feels an urgent need to reboot. Maybe not all the funding was cut off after all.
Richard C. Lumpkin
Prairie Village
Robocall relief
To my fellow landliners who are tired of answering unwanted political, questionable charity and other telephone calls, rejoice.
The newer answering machines with integrated phones are relatively inexpensive and easy to set up and use.
They also give you caller ID without having to pay extra. Enjoy.
Jan Sheridan
Lee’s Summit
This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to discrimination, Cecil the lion and the U.S. math team."