Nude beaches, coal, opposing Obama

I was on the beach in Warnemünde, Germany. It was a pleasant day.

In this port city, open nudity is a tradition on this beach. There were hundreds of young German kids.

But none of them paid any attention to those who chose to be undressed. Then an American family arrived with a 4-year-old kid, who with a curious and surprised face was showing his parents the nude creatures.

The parents decided to get away, probably to find an American moral standard beach. What is the better approach — those Germans whose kids are not impressed about nude bodies (because not everyone is Brigitte Bardot) or the American family who wants to keep the “mystique of nudity” strictly enforced.

I think that the nudity in art is for millenniums in paintings and statues. Probably watching some singers’ tasteless performance on TV and vulgar music, which unfortunately is everywhere, could make more damage on a child’s moral development.

But every family has the right to choose what it considers appropriate.

Someone should tell President Barack Obama (perhaps one of his many czars) that the United States uses only a fraction of the world’s coal, and were we to entirely shut down all of our coal use, the overall effect on the atmosphere would be negligible.

Remember that the U.S. has plenty of clean burning electric generation while the rest of the world probably couldn’t care less. About 40 percent of our electricity comes from coal.

If that were shut down our economy would further collapse. We have put enough coal workers out of work.

Mr. Obama, we don’t need any further economic depression based on some imaginary “clean air” program. Remember, the world’s air is circulated to all parts of the world.

The U.S. air is not ours exclusively. I thought you should know.

I can tell you why I do not like this president.

I fundamentally disagree with the following: Obamacare, the auto industry bailouts, trying terrorists in civilian courts, expanding government, appointing more than 40 czars who have power but no oversight, apologizing for America to our enemies, President Barack Obama’s socialist leanings as per his own writings, his desire to fundamentally transform America, the country racking up more debt during his administration, his failed economic plan, the increasing dependency of citizens on the government, Solyndra and Jeremiah Wright.

Need I go on?

After re-reading my list, I do not see race.

This notion that all who disagree with this president’s agenda are racist demonstrates a lack of critical thinking on the part of those who do support him and a lack of ability to present a point of view from those who do not support him.

Name-calling is childish behavior. We need to act like adults.

With the rush to follow in Texas’ wake by handing out untold millions of dollars in corporate welfare, Kansas officials find themselves just a bit short and unable to meet the current bills.

They have decided to cut the funding to education and have come up with a great formula.

If a school spent more on salaries than previously estimated, the Legislature cut the school’s budget by the amount of the overage.

And if a school spent less on salaries, the Legislature cut that school’s budget by the amount of the shortfall.

That kind of thinking is just what a corporation is looking for when seeking a new home — a state that is more interested in stuffing the pockets of millionaires with taxpayers’ dollars, and getting those dollars off the backs of the students and taxpayers.

Is it just me or do the congressional Republicans seem more and more like spoiled kids?

If they can’t get the game played the way they want, they are going to puncture the ball and make sure no one can play.

I sure wish the “parents” would stop spoiling these Republicans kids by re-electing them. It’s time for a time out for this bunch of spoiled do-nothings.

Charlie Weis, you are a hero. Not because KU won a conference game Saturday — although a win is good (11-17, B9, “Jayhawks rise up, goal posts go down”).

You are a hero because you have taken young men who want to play college football and taught them to find pride in themselves, their teammates and their school.

The result? A college football team that is constantly improving, fun to watch and cheer for.

Thank you for publicly challenging the press regarding recruiting, “Why wouldn’t you want to play football for KU?”

Thank you for instituting the tradition of singing the alma mater with students in the stands after every game, win or lose, ingraining in these impressionable athletes they are, indeed, a worthwhile, recognizable part of KU.

Thank you for making college football at the University of Kansas a fun game to watch as players improve, gel as a team, display unity and spirit and play for the love of the game.

That makes you a hero, Charlie.

The Obama Democrats at the Los Angeles Times have decided that they are no longer going to print letters denying global warming. So much for freedom of speech.

If it had been a conservative paper denying letters from left wingers the howls of outrage would be carried in all of the television and print media.

The Obama Hollywood Democrats are also releasing a movie about Noah and the flood.

The Liberals have put their spin on it. In their minds the flood was not as a result of God’s punishment for sin.

No. It was Mother Earth fighting back against man’s abuse of nature.

Communism did not go away with the fall of the Soviet Union.

No. It changed its name to diversity and political correctness and found a nice warm home in the Democratic Party of this once great country.

God, please save us in spite of ourselves and from ourselves.

People blame tea party members for the government shutdown when all they wanted was to reduce government spending.

Everybody wants affordable health care, but it is expensive.

The national debt is tens of thousands of dollars per family and climbing. We are passing this debt on to our grandchildren to pay.

Some of this is legitimate because they will be using the infrastructure we are building now. However, with the global competition from emerging powers such as China, India and Russia, future salaries will have less buying power than they do now.

So future generations will be less able to pay on this debt. Increasing taxes on the rich and corporations won’t be very effective because their money is normally used for investment, which creates jobs.

True, many of these jobs are in other countries because of reduced labor costs, which is something our leaders need to deal with.

What we really need is a more efficient government.

If health care is expensive as a private business, it will be more expensive when run by our inefficient government. Where is the leadership to make the changes necessary to be more efficient?

This story was originally published November 19, 2013 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Nude beaches, coal, opposing Obama."