Polling places, James Stowers, KC hockey

Although voting on an Election Day is technically open the entire day, many polling places are open for only about 12 hours. This makes it extremely inconvenient or impossible for some people because of their jobs or other commitments.

For example, people who work nighttime jobs are less likely to vote because when they’re actually awake none of the polling places around them are open.

Many situations like this occur nationwide, and they cause the overall voter participation to decrease. Therefore, voting results are not as accurate as they could be.

If the polls were open for the total 24 hours on Election Day, then citizens would have the entire day to vote and would have the luxury of going to the polls at any time possible.

Thus, voting results would better reflect the true opinions of U.S. citizens.

James Stowers’ death reminds us how fortunate we’ve been to have such a benevolent billionaire in our midst. He built American Century Investments from the bottom up and used $2 billion of his fortune to establish the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

He also had a financial-education curriculum developed, offered free to teachers and parents, that teaches children to become financially independent. He promoted science, health and education.

If only billionaires like the Koch brothers followed Mr. Stowers’ example. They spent a lot of money in the 2012 election, and in 2014 they’ve reportedly already spent millions of dollars in “dark money” ads.

Think how many people they could have helped with that money. Instead, the Koch brothers are trying to scare young people away from getting much-needed health insurance for themselves or their children, all because of their rabid opposition to the Affordable Care Act.

They’re also against science because it shows how their petrochemical companies pollute the environment and contribute to global warming.

Their slogan should be: “Up with profits. Down with people.”

I was just wondering whether your newspaper realized that we have a hockey team, a first-place team called the Mavericks, in Kansas City?

I have had to search to find any information on games, and in one instance I finally found a bit of an article next to the last page in small print, after baseball, basketball, football, soccer, fishing and auto racing.

Why do you ignore the Mavericks, especially given the fact that the team is heading into the playoffs? The team is an exciting, winning Kansas City team that deserves some credit and press coverage.

The players, coaches and owners also spend a great deal of time volunteering with groups, organizations and junior hockey in our area. Why not give the Mavericks credit when credit is due?

The Mavericks are a very popular team, selling out a majority of their games, but you would never know it by reading The Star. The “puck” stops at The Star.

BishopAccountability.org reports that more than $3 billion has been paid in settlements and awards of U.S. Catholic sexual-abuse cases.

A devastating report in February published by the United Nations Committee on Rights of a Child said the Catholic Church has “systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims.”

“Well known child sexual abusers have been transferred from parish to parish or to other countries in an attempt to cover up such crimes. ... Due to a code of silence imposed on all members of the clergy under penalty of excommunication, cases of child abuse have hardly ever been reported to the law-enforcement authorities in the countries where such crimes occurred.”

These U.N. conclusions came from an unprecedented hearing in Geneva this year during which Vatican representatives were questioned by the committee. Bishop Robert Finn and other U.S. bishops chose not to follow the 2002 Dallas bishops conference recommendation of a zero-tolerance policy.

They should be demoted and transferred to Rome or a monastery. All Catholic dioceses should be required to list all past and current valid accusations of their clergy in their diocesan newspapers with the total dollars paid out for all cases.

Another saber-rattling column blasting American “weakness” in facing Russia down in the Crimea (4-1, Commentary, “Obama vs. Putin: Mismatch exposes weakness of U.S.”).

I understand Charles Krauthammer’s job is to blast President Barack Obama on everything that he possibly can, but advocating yet another war for our nation to fight unilaterally?

In Krauthammer’s column (aptly on April Fool’s Day), he states, “Numberless 19th and 20th century European soldiers died for Crimea. Putin conquered it in three weeks and cost his forces not a sprained ankle.”

What do Krauthammer, Sen. John McCain and others like them want? Have we not learned any lessons from our past?

Should Obama have sent 10,000, 20,000 or more American soldiers to die for a part of the world that Russia should have controlled in the first place? And then what?

Return home to bury our dead and let Crimea remain in Ukrainian hands?

Maybe the Republicans who rail about spending too much taxpayer money on food stamps and Medicare should educate their followers about the cost of war.

May God help the American nation if Krauthammer and his right-wing militarist ilk gain control of the government.

We will involve ourselves in a never-ending series of wars that will cost the American people dearly in blood and money.

The problem with coordinating communications among myriad public-safety agencies was identified long before the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001 (3-30, A1, “Friends in high places strengthen Motorola”).

After Hurricane Hugo devastated South Carolina and other areas in 1989, the U.S. Coast Guard saw the need to coordinate communications among federal, state and local agencies.

The goal then was to set up a mobile command post with the ability to talk with any agency in the area.

Part of the problem was the large number of channels used. Every agency had its own working frequency.

This problem was further complicated by encryption software some agencies used.

These problems continue to this day. Coordination via contingency planning and exercises that realistically test the ability to communicate is the key.

An on-scene commander should have the ability to cut in on or override other frequencies and be in contact with any other agency involved.

It shouldn’t require superexpensive radios to do this.

Former President George W. Bush led the U.S. into a war in Iraq on the strength of very dubious charges. This led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, thousands of dead and injured U.S. soldiers, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

All of this to save the Iraqi people from that infamous butcher, Saddam Hussein, and the world from his supposed stock of weapons of mass destruction.

No Republicans and not many Democrats lost much sleep over these events.

Now we have Benghazi. Four Americans lost their lives in that attack — four. And the Republicans cannot quit foaming at the mouth and fomenting discord over this frightful miscarriage of justice.

Impeach him, some say about President Barack Obama.

And, of course, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton needs to be crucified because there’s a danger that she may take over an office that rightfully belongs to the Republicans.

And how much value does the life of an Iraqi have, anyway?

This story was originally published April 2, 2014 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Polling places, James Stowers, KC hockey ."