Pope Francis and Gov. Sam Brownback, police action needed, minimum wage

I am not a Catholic, but I find Pope Francis to be an inspirational figure. He is already on my list of favorite popes.

Unlike Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Pope Francis is a champion of the common folks. At a time in America when more and more of everything is owned by fewer and fewer people, it can’t be an ethical act to cut taxes for the wealthy.

Whatever his background may be, Pope Francis is the leader of Gov. Brownback’s adopted church. I wish Brownback would listen to his pope.

The conversations from the Kansas City Council, Mayor Sly James and Police Chief Darryl Forté always end the same: “We have formed another committee to study the problem.”

We need some action.

The city of New York took action by allowing its police department to stop and search in high crime areas. New York went from having one of the worst murder rates to one of the lowest.

Yes, some will call that profiling, but it is the selection of high murder-rate areas, not the selection of blacks, Hispanics or whites.

What does it take?

It takes giving the job of correcting the problem to the police chief, along with the approval for him to assign more police to the task and even hire more officers if necessary. It would not only reduce the murder rate, it would reduce the overall crime rate.

Then our efforts to help those with no jobs in those areas would be much more successful.

Please, not another committee to study the problem.

The topic has been spoken and written about endlessly, but I believe it merits constant airing in the attempt to motivate participation in the electoral process by those who have not yet taken advantage of the power of their votes.

They can send home the mindless ideologues in Congress, the one-issue radicals who advocate narrow-minded, discriminatory legislation and who have already ridden roughshod over the rest of us.

They have hijacked the Republican Party in their fanatical devotion to restricting the opportunity for the “silent majority” to exercise its right to freedom of choice.

In the constant struggle between right and left, conservative and liberal, radical and moderate, and blind, reckless ideology vs. any attempt to serve the welfare of those who are being left behind, the power of the vote can be decisive.

It could be that, by its headlong rush to curtail the spending of our money (collected taxes), the extremist wing of Congress has written its own demise.

One hundred years ago, Henry Ford increased his employees’ wages to $5 a day. He realized that putting more money in his workers’ pockets enabled them to purchase more cars.

This same theory applies today. Increasing the minimum wage would allow workers to spend more money, which would help our economy.

So, kudos to President Barack Obama for proposing an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Of course, most congressional Republicans oppose the increase, but they are against nearly everything the president proposes.

Congress must pass the proposal to increase the minimum wage for the sake of U.S. workers and the economy.

Everyone I talk to is tired and angry about the way big money has corrupted our politics. That’s everyone, on all sides — liberal, conservative and libertarian.

Politicians now spend most of their time listening to the people who will fund their next campaigns, not to their other constituents. The Citizens United decision made things a lot worse.

Now there’s a case that’s being called “Citizens United on steroids.” In a worst-case decision, it could remove all limits on campaign contributions by corporations and rich individuals. This would practically end democracy as we’ve known it.

The proposed “We the People” amendment to the U.S. Constitution would address this by ending the legal precedent that campaign contributions are equivalent to free speech and that a corporation is a legal person with the rights reserved to individuals under the Constitution.

Call your congressperson today to support this amendment.

Because Kansas City International Airport seems to be such an embarrassment to the business leaders in this metropolitan area, the solution is simple. Just send their corporate jets or even their paltry turboprops into Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport or one of the many other reliever airports in the area.

The fixed base operators would appreciate their patronage.

I read another article recently debating whether to “save” Kemper Arena. That discussion isn’t surprising given the constant commentary on whether to remodel/upgrade Kansas City International Airport or to scrap the three terminals and build a new one.

Examples of scrapping the not-so-old and building new can be found throughout the metropolitan area. In several cases, large shopping malls and strip centers have been leveled, and once the bickering and lawsuits die down they are replaced with new bigger and better buildings with parking lots and signage galore.

Just head to Johnson County, where aesthetics rule. You will be hard pressed to drive more than a few miles without seeing new buildings with carefully planned matching facades and signage that have replaced buildings some of us thought were just fine as they were.

Is it time to stop long enough to ask a few key questions and consider the implications of each answer.

First, is our original planning and construction so poor that these buildings indeed are not capable of providing usefulness, albeit with periodic remodels and updates, for many years to come?

Second, have we really taken the concept of a throwaway society to the level that now buildings covering multiple acres are included?

At the two remaining Kansas City International Airport terminals, I have often spent an inordinate amount of time and inconvenience waiting in line to be cleared through security before entering the waiting area.

After entering, all one can do is sit in those hard seats. There are few restrooms, few restaurants and no shops or other amenities.

The Indianapolis airport is a single building, which one enters directly, with a large rotunda lined with restaurants, interesting shops, wonderful overstuffed sofas and chairs, offering a pleasant atmosphere for waiting.

The terminal walkways run off this central area like spokes.

It’s very efficient, very pleasant and very convenient. We need an updated single terminal.

Every child and family should get the chance to own a dog at least once. Growing up with a dog can teach a child so many life lessons.

The biggest is responsibility. Children learn how to take care of the dog’s needs, such as food, water, hygiene and exercise.

While the children are taking care of the dogs, they can apply some of the dogs’ needs to themselves. Such as making sure to exercise daily to stay healthy.

Having a dog helps the child have fun being outside and exercising. Another lesson children learn is how to love often.

Also, a child learns about loyalty. A dog is loyal and stays by a child during happy and sad times.

Pets always greet you by the door, welcoming you home. The child learns at an early age that being loyal is a great friend trait.

Dogs make great companions for children.

A dog can be protection for your family. They hear much better then we do and are pretty smart in letting owners know when something is wrong.

These are just a few reasons every child should get the chance to grow up with a dog.

This story was originally published March 30, 2014 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Pope Francis and Gov. Sam Brownback, police action needed, minimum wage."