Obamacare troubles, unemployment data, driver’s license renewals

Let’s subtract the number of insurance policies Americans lost because their employers dropped care or insurance companies dropped plans from the new policies reported and see what negative number that puts us at.

We still wouldn’t be in the positive.

Why didn’t we just look at what needed to be fixed versus overhauling the entire system for a worse system?

On unemployment, it’s important to look at all the numbers.

Experts mention that younger workers are dropping out.

Tell them to keep checking why.

Maybe 25- to 35-year-olds are getting married or connected and planning to start families.

Then one partner would quit looking for work to stay at home to raise a child for a while.

Kansas will consider allowing driver’s license renewals for eight years, instead of the current six years (2-23, A7, “Kansas looks at longer licenses”), according to Rep. Don Hineman (R-Dighton), to “restore to the citizens that time that is now spent dealing with government.”

So, over a 24-year period, a driver would need to renew his license three times instead of four. That’d save about two hours every 24 years. Talk about a waste of legislative time.

Marriage inequality should be at the center of any discussion of why some Americans prosper and others don't.

According to Census Bureau information analyzed by the Beverly LaHaye Institute, among families headed by two married parents in 2012, just 7.5 percent lived in poverty.

By contrast, when families are headed by a single mother the poverty level jumps to 33.9 percent. And the number of children raised in female-headed families is growing throughout America.

A 2012 study by the Heritage Foundation found that about a quarter of children born to a white mother were out of wedlock. For Hispanics, the figure was higher and higher still for African-Americans.

In 1964, when the war on poverty began, almost everyone was born in a family with two married parents; only 7 percent were not.

The erosion of values in this country must be addressed, redistribution of wealth is not the answer.

The four reasons the Republicans lost the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections: John McCain, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan.

If the Republican Party cannot improve, it will lose in 2016.

I was in traffic court last year for a speeding ticket. I had been told by the arresting officer that I could speak with the prosecutor, explain my situation, maybe get my charge reduced, but pay a higher fine.

Best of all, the state would not be informed, and I would accrue no points on my driving record. Gosh, how could I not do that since I could afford to pay the higher fine?

I did just that successfully.

However, I did not feel right about it.

No. 1, it doesn’t seem fair. Many people can’t afford it.

No. 2, why have the point system if it is this easy to get out of a speeding charge and not get assessed points? I hardly explained anything.

Something is very wrong here.

If a point system is to be kept, Kansas needs to have an accurate point count of our misadventures. Those who are arrested deserve to keep their points.

Just being able to pay a higher fine is simply not right.

When I was a child, I had one thing I could do well. That one thing set me apart from the others, built my confidence and made me feel incredibly special.

That thing was bowling. Bowling offered me a way out, a temporary escape from the hard life of a farmer’s adopted son. It took patience.

This gentle craft grabbed hold of me and demanded the utmost respect. Through time, I began to become better and better.

First showcasing my skills at the local bowling alley, next on the road with a recreational bowling league. Working harder each day, I was determined I could do more.

When I wasn’t bowling, I was reading about bowling techniques or scouting competitors in competing leagues.

One day, I finally had my chance.

After questioning myself, I secured my confidence and succeeded. I was now a professional bowler.

I continued this passion for 30 years before retiring in Raytown.

As I look at youths today, I see something missing — something they could use.

I’m talking to you, moms and dads. Get your kids down to the alley and bowl.

Personally, I am a huge fan of a good blizzard. However, I really don’t appreciate driving on slippery, snow-packed roads.

I typically venture out a few days after the initial snowfall has ceased and the roads are almost all clear.

It is evident that the most recent storm we incurred dumped more snow on us than expected.

I live in Independence. I would give the Public Works Department an “A” when it come to plowing the main roads.

However, I don’t think a plow dropped its blade anywhere in my subdivision. In a matter of only a few days, I witnessed a number of cars plus a large trash truck get stuck trying to make their way up my street.

Public Works should start contracting with neighborhood associations in order for the streets to be cleared in a timely manner. In my case, there are a number of homeowners who own plows and could easily get the job done.

So why not let individuals take charge of neighborhood roads and be reimbursed while the larger plows take care of the main thoroughfares?

Am I the only one who finds it interesting that some businesses reduced employees’ hours to avoid having to provide health insurance under the Obamacare mandate?

It seems there were plenty of businesses that secretly viewed the Affordable Care Act as a godsend because it gave them an excuse to do what they were going to do anyway without looking like Scrooges.

A liberal paradise would be a place where everybody has guaranteed employment, free comprehensive health care, free education, free food, free housing, free clothing and free utilities and where only law enforcement has guns.

And believe it or not, such a place does indeed exist. It’s called prison.

I wonder how many tea partiers live there?

Who gets to pay for the Democrats’ proposed increased minimum wage — the already economically hammered middle class, as opposed to, say, arrogant, Eastern elitists masquerading as champions of the poor?

Curiously, when the minimum wage gets increased, so do the government’s coffers. It’s nothing more than a cleverly disguised tax increase so Democrats can spend even more money buying elections.

How about the federal, state and local governments stop taking so much money out of the paychecks of the poor? Pay for it by whatever decreased spending is required on the part of the royal government class.

King Barack Obama has proclaimed that he will avoid the democratic process by using executive orders to further his own agenda.

His faithful subjects (members of Congress) should be replaced by those who remember that they are there to represent Americans and not special interests and illegal immigrants.

This story was originally published February 25, 2014 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Obamacare troubles, unemployment data, driver’s license renewals."