Hunger, abortion and guns, money in politics

What can be done about all of the hunger, confusion and despair? All the world’s governments know is spying, greed, power and war.

It seems that all we see these days are dishonest, greedy governments. They all must be working for the oil and money groups.

I am not religious, but I do believe in God and Jesus. So many hide behind some kind of a religion.

That seems a bit ungodly. It’s hard to believe our lawmakers and government help create so many unproductive homeless, jobless citizens in the U.S.

The whole outfit stinks.

Here’s a new motto for Kansas and Missouri: Abortions for nobody, guns for everyone.

Our continued military presence in the chaotic, war-torn Middle East prompts me to reach for my volume of Rudyard Kipling’ poetry.

As a press correspondent with the British Army for much of the 19th century, Kipling celebrated the lives of ordinary British soldiers in poetry and prose, where they will live forever.

Some lines from his poem “Rebirth” can be carried through the years to soldiers today who believe in their cause and carry on those traditions:

“For we are what we are 

—

“So broke to blood

“And the strict works of war

“So long subdued

“To sacrifice, that threadbare Death commands

“Hardly observance at our busier hands.”

Another verse provides a reason. Look it up.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled that aggregate spending limits on how much money an individual can contribute to federal candidates is unconstitutional (4-3, A1, “Supreme Court expands leeway in political gifts”). House Speaker John Boehner hailed the decision as a “victory for free speech.”

Not surprisingly, Democrats weren’t so sanguine.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his decision that Congress may not regulate contributions “simply to level the playing field between wealthy forces and those of lesser means.”

In other words, the Koch brothers can spend millions of dollars to malign my candidate with nasty, misleading attack ads, and unless he has millions in his war chest he is pretty much political road kill.

Equating political spending to a form of free speech seems a perversion of an essential political process that is supposed to be fair and just. It also means candidates for federal office must be expert fundraisers, possibly to the detriment of qualities voters deem more important in their elected officials.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in his dissent that this decision may well open the floodgate so that “a few large donations ... drown out the voices of the many.”

Most voters I know felt that way a long time ago.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and apparent preparation for the invasion of the rest of Ukraine bring to mind one of my favorite quotes from Winston Churchill:

“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove recently noted that U.S. forces in Europe are around 67,000, down from roughly 400,000 during the Cold War. It is time for the United States to prepare for a newly aggressive Russia.

It was a must-attend family celebration, but when I slept through the morning alarm, I was afraid I’d miss my flight. Fortunately, I packed the night before and had my boarding pass in hand, so I gave it a try.

I left my home in midtown at 6:40 a.m., drove swiftly but not unsafely and arrived at the Kansas City International Airport garage, a mere 100 feet from the airport entrance, at 7:05 a.m. The lines were short, and I cleared security and was in my seat by 7:15 a.m. for the 7:30 a.m. departure.

I don’t recommend it, but it’s good to know it’s possible.

That probably wouldn’t have happened in Denver or Atlanta or St. Louis or any other airport.

When flying, I’ll take convenience over tablecloths and boutique shopping anytime.

The right-to-work proposal considered this year in the Missouri Legislature is a dangerous fraud. As American citizens, we already have the right to seek employment and to work.

But under a right-to-work law, we would continue to work — for less money and fewer benefits than we already have. And the law would eliminate our job-site safety and individual rights and protections.

That’s a good deal for employers but a sharp stick in the eye for employees.

Who is pushing right to work? Out-of-state interests, billionaires, huge companies and secretive business organizations. They have wined, dined and effectively purchased key leaders in our state government.

Not one of these leaders has at heart the best interests of the workers and citizens of Missouri. Otherwise, these unproductive politicians would be doing something genuinely useful, such as creating jobs.

We, the citizens of Missouri, are not clamoring for a right-to-work law. We want and need good jobs in our state, not a dangerous roadmap to failure.

A Chinese proverb says, “Don’t curse the darkness — light a candle.” Romans 13:12 says: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Both quotes mean that if you see a problem you should fix it rather than just complain.

These words should be heard by our state senators. Some have vowed to block any transformation of our Medicaid system, a system that leaves 270,000 Missourians uninsured. Sen. Kurt Schaeffer, a Columbia Republican, even asked his universally insured colleagues, “Why is this somehow our problem?” It isn’t, unless you care about your neighbors.

Fortunately, Sen. Ryan Silvey, a Kansas City Republican, has lit a candle in a legislature full of darkness. He has dared to suggest that Republicans should be more than the party of “no” when it comes to Medicaid and should actually address our state’s ailing health-care infrastructure.

Others, including Sen. John Lamping, attack Silvey for trying to solve a problem. Lamping thinks the courageous stand is to say no and curse the darkness.

Perhaps he should read the Bible.

The next time you are watching television, turn on closed captioning and see how well deaf people are treated. With the exception of commercials, which are usually about 95 percent correct except for overflow into the next commercial, the captioning is very poor.

The captioning ranges from garbled words, garbled sentences and out-of-sequence word to no captioning at all. The local stations are able to caption their newscasts but do not caption their weather forecasts. Twice a local channel did caption its weather, once during a storm and once for a “seasonable update.”

Try to find who is responsible for captioning. Your provider says it is the station’s responsibility, the station says it is the network’s, the network says it is the provider’s, etc.

Occasionally, the statement “Closed captioning is provided by such and such company” is made. If I were the chief executive of these companies, I would be very embarrassed by this presentation and withdraw my sponsorship unless the system were fixed.

I guess this is one area where the Americans with Disabilities Act falls short.

This story was originally published April 8, 2014 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Hunger, abortion and guns, money in politics."