Fortune’s leaders, rowdies at zoo, climate change

Last Thursday, Fortune magazine issued its first-ever list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. President Barack Obama did not make the list.

Apparently, Fortune’s editors deliberately chose to overlook President Obama’s leadership in a number of key areas.

These include his leadership in urging consistent and unsustainable deficit spending, promoting class warfare, fanning racial tensions, mounting unprecedented legislative and legal attacks on American businesses at the expense of jobs, conspiring to make America a second-rate military power in order to fund entitlement programs, using the IRS to punish his political enemies and cramming Obamacare down the throats of the 60 percent or more of American voters who were against it.

On the other hand, perhaps some people in the media are starting to see the true fabric of the emperor’s clothes.

Mary Sanchez said the exact thoughts that almost all of us adults think (3-20, A4, “Let’s deal with the rowdy youths”). She was so right on.

The troublemakers should be arrested, and their parents should have to bail them out of jail.

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

We the people are so sick of this stuff. Making excuses for this is not cool, Mr. Mayor.

The police should make it mandatory for these troublemakers to at least spend a night in jail.

Give them a taste of the consequences of bad behavior.

Claycomo residents desire more police officers on duty. If the Police Department properly used the staff it does have, residents would probably feel more secure.

If the village has only one officer on duty and that officer is making endless loops on Interstate 35 playing highway patrolman, then neither the residents nor their village can be properly serviced by the department.

This is especially true late at night.

In response to the many climate-change deniers, global warming is not a myth.

Some contend it’s not science because of information gleaned through hacked emails.

There were numerous inquires (at least one congressional), and none found any scientific malfeasance (other than the stealing and manufacturing of false information).

I’m not a scientist, but in my lifetime I’ve witnessed deteriorating reefs, the warmest decade in 1,000 years and the shrinking of our polar ice caps.

These are just a few of the many observable reasons why 97 percent of all scientists believe humans are having a direct negative influence on our climate.

Contrary to denier scientists and talk-show hosts’ minions, findings and papers by climate scientists such as Michael Mann are scrutinized via scientific peer review.

The key reason most deniers refuse to submit their data to this process is that none (zero, zip, nada) have withstood peer review analysis.

The next time someone tries to deny global warming by pointing to how cold it is outside, tell them it’s something scientists call winter.

People should realize that climate and weather are not the same thing.

Among the letter writers, there are a good number with a high regard for President Barack Obama and his administration. Some are derogatory toward Obama and his presidency.

I think most of these writers are unaware that they harbor anti-black sentiment.

Obama’s racial makeup is 50 percent African and 50 percent Caucasian. Over the years, I’ve not read such disdain expressed against any of the Caucasian presidents.

Interestingly, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index ranked Missouri No. 

8 among the most miserable states in 2013. Reportedly, Missouri ranks among the worst states for emotional health, with a high number of citizens having stressful lives and a relatively low number having smiled or laughed within the last day.

It follows that some letter writers are not happy and rage toward highly visible targets.

I say it’s good to vent emotions in letters. But introspection is necessary.

There are some issues surfacing in the Kansas statehouse.

• Listening to some representatives, there seems to be an attempt at justifying not raising the minimum wage because it would be an affront to exceptionalism. So what are we saying? Sacrifice the 99 percent for the 1 percent?

• How many swats to a child’s bottom should be allowed was debated, which indicates perhaps those considering it have had one too many swats to the head already.

• Kansas could make health insurance available for about 150,000 more citizens at no initial cost for at least three years. But that would mean compromise and putting human needs above politics.

• There is nothing like denying service and discriminating under the guise of religious belief. What if it involved any religion other than Christianity?

• Between Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and his voter suppression campaign, what is he doing to make it possible for more Kansans to vote?

This story was originally published March 22, 2014 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Fortune’s leaders, rowdies at zoo, climate change."