Trouble at the zoo, longboards, Medicare restrictions

A group of us were talking about the trouble Tuesday (3-19, A1, “Free day at zoo leads to violence”), and one person suggested that the residents who are entitled to use the free day be given an allotment of tickets that they can use any day.

There is no way I would go on a free day because there are too many people there.

The zoo is a wonderful place; it should be fun to go there.

What kind of a society have we constructed where someone feels it necessary and is legally allowed to carry a gun to an outing at the zoo? If it is not already true, there will soon be no safe places for the public to gather.

Poor America. After his fifth year in office, the world’s most powerful man is running out of fairy tales and scapegoats. President Barack Obama’s star is falling fast. Blaming former President George Bush no longer works because Bush’s star fell long ago.

Excesses of political hubris and recklessness abound. Blatant lies, cover-ups, stonewalling and evasions are now deeply embedded in our political culture. Lukewarm and clever politicians in both parties, with fingers to the wind, split the difference with the ideologues, enriching themselves and their families in the process. Those of us in the bottom 99 percent lose financially and personally as constitutional guarantees are eroded.

We need to change the culture of our country. Perhaps we should return to the faith of our fathers and mothers.

Maybe our families, pastors, Billy Graham and the little old nuns who taught me were right. God so loved the world he gave his only son.

Follow him with a contrite heart. Hold high your lamp. Spread the word.

Life is unpredictable. We leave the house to go to the grocery store and have an accident, or we fall in the shower, or we have a stroke, and all of a sudden the future looks different.

Because life is unpredictable, medical rehabilitation services are needed — but that availability is about to become limited.

Since passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, there have been limitations on individual outpatient rehabilitation therapy expenditures (called the therapy cap) built into Medicare. Congress recognized those limits were having a deleterious effect on citizens, so an exception process was put in place.

That process allows for medically necessary rehabilitation therapy services to be provided above the cap if required by the patient’s needs. Twenty percent of Medicare beneficiaries’ therapy needs exceed this limit.

That exception process is slated to expire March 31, meaning beneficiaries may not be able to access all the care they need. While a permanent fix is being developed — one that does not arbitrarily imperil seniors with catastrophic illnesses or injuries — Congress needs to take action, either eliminating the therapy cap or extending the exception process.

Why? Because life is unpredictable.

I am a teen in the Kansas City area who would like to raise a point concerning the city’s stance on “general modes of transportation” and the definition of a pedestrian.

Last year, a person was ticketed for longboarding on the road because of a municipal code that states, “Where sidewalks are provided it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to walk along and upon an adjacent roadway.” He was considered a pedestrian even though he was riding a longboard which is bigger than a skateboard and is designed for transporation rather than tricks.

The Kansas City municipal code states “the use of skateboards, roller skates, in-line skates, scooters and other like devices shall be prohibited on all district facility roadways, patios, entryways, exits, courtyards, memorials and sidewalks.”

There are two main problems with city ordinances. They are vague and are therefore often misused by law-enforcement officers, and they do not mention longboards or differentiate skateboards from longboards as a method of transportation.

The Kansas City Council has passed many laws regarding skateboarding that are often misused to ticket longboarders who are commuting from place to place.

I am writing in opposition to the remodeling of Kansas City International Airport. Compared with other airports in the country, KCI is safe, efficient and dependable.

I enjoy being able to arrive less than an hour before my flight and still make it through security checkpoints with time to spare.

The renovation, costing about $1.2 billion, would improve security functions and the airport in general. I am not debating the fact that the facility would improve. I simply think the renovation is unnecessary and expensive.

Obviously, no system is entirely efficient or perfect, but the one at KCI is adequate. If the renovation of the airport would greatly improve the surrounding area and would create a hub for bustling life and culture, the argument would be different.

The renovation is not necessary because the current system works perfectly well, and $1.2 billion could be spent on something more efficient or immediately helpful to Missouri and Kansas residents.

Even though it was not stated whether the shirts PacSun was selling earlier this year were indeed explicit and contained profanity, I find it ridiculous that an upset mom in Utah spent close to $600 to buy them to get them out of the store.

Because PacSun has 600 stores around the United States, the message displayed on the shirts likely was received by millions of people. It is accurate to say that the mom did not make a significant difference in bettering the public through her actions.

So-called explicit material is so easily accessible in today’s society that nearly anyone with the intention of viewing it may do so. The Internet is the best place for this.

I respect the upset mother’s intentions of displaying a modest message to the public instead of a disruptive one, but she is putting herself at a great disadvantage by spending about $600 on something that may be harmless.

Obviously, there is a line that must be drawn, but ultimately the people are responsible for their own social integrity. The Utah mother is not.

Some members of the Missouri legislature desire a prescription-drug-tracking database. It’s supposedly to prevent individuals from doctor shopping for multiple prescriptions and overdosing.

This same government cannot prevent illegal and prescription drugs from entering its prisons. The legislation’s real intent is to assert the state’s superiority over individuals or rather that each of us is property of the state.

We are to be observed, tracked, catalogued and investigated in secret by government authority. Beyond psychological effects, this legislation would provide valuable information to third parties such as drug companies and intelligence to law enforcement.

The intelligence could be used in civil asset forfeiture, commonly known as policing for profit. Not surprisingly, the sponsor has received contributions from those who would profit from its passage.

Also not surprising is the intellectual dishonesty of the Republican majority. They claim to support smaller, less intrusive government and rightfully oppose firearm databases but embrace a database for prescription drugs with information so detailed it could track the form of payment.

Governments inherently seek to be totalitarian. Aided by rapidly advancing technology, the political class is creating electronic dossiers on each of us that would make Stalin and Mussolini envious.

This story was originally published March 21, 2014 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Trouble at the zoo, longboards, Medicare restrictions."