Readers react to scientists, research funding and Hillary Clinton
Scientists’ beliefs
It is true that the majority of scientists believe in man-made climate change. It is also true that the majority of scientists believe in evolution.
Having said this, I, for one, am not going to place my eternal destination into the hands of godless, secular scientists.
Brian Barkley
Overland Park
Funding research
In his Dec. 14 letter, Mark Runyan urged Congress to increase funding for cancer research. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the National Institutes of Health, I am proud to announce that the $2 billion NIH funding increase I fought for in committee was included in the recently enacted government funding bill for next year.
In addition to the 6 percent increase for NIH, the government funding bill includes more than $5 billion for the National Cancer Institute, a 5 percent increase.
In August, I attended a roundtable at University Hospital in Columbia, where a mother who lost her 6-year-old son to a rare blood cancer in 2014 said she was “mortified” to learn about the lack of research funding after her son was diagnosed.
Today, research is under way at National Cancer Institute to develop therapies that target gene mutations present in 30 percent of cancers. It is one of several key initiatives the institute is pursuing to advance all aspects of cancer research and treatment.
I am grateful that my colleagues made National Institutes of Health funding a priority in the government funding bill and urge them to continue their support.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt
Springfield, Mo.
Trust Clinton?
They caught front-running Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton telling another whopper. So this is news?
Writing in The New York Times way back in 1996, William Safire called her “a congenital liar.”
Less than three years ago, the former first lady and secretary of state said she had “absolutely no plans” to run for president.
Donald Hoffmann
Kansas City
God encounter
It is refreshing to hear Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speak openly of his encounter with God. How few of us are willing to be vulnerable enough to share our sins and say, “That’s what I was, but by God’s grace, I’m a changed man today.”
Recently, I heard a recording by the late Chuck Colson, who was put in prison because of his part in the Watergate scandal. It was in prison that he came to his faith in Christ. His life was transformed, and the prison work he started lives on today.
Nov. 7 marked the 97th birthday of Billy Graham. Through Graham’s many years of ministry, God used him to bring thousands to trust in Christ, and their lives were made new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The Bible relates countless stories of people whose lives were changed by God. This included those who committed all kinds of sins. God never camouflages sin.
“Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). The daily news bears this out.
As a Christian, I am glad to identify with Ben Carson. No, he’s not perfect; he’s just forgiven.
May God increase his tribe.
Jackie James
Prairie Village
Accepting history
The Kansas City Star reports that a lawsuit has challenged a sweeping New Orleans plan to remove prominent Confederate monuments (12-20, A24, “City sued over decision to remove Confederate statues”).
Tearing down historic artifacts does not tear down history.
Take, for example, one of my great-grandfathers, a West Virginia farmer named Eugene Alexander. He joined the First Rockbridge Artillery of Virginia in 1861.
He fought until about 1864. U.S. Army records indicate that he also enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fredericksburg Va., in 1866.
So it would seem that I am a direct descendant of a soldier who volunteered for two armies — first to fight for the South and then to serve in the Union forces during Reconstruction.
I guess I could ignore my family’s history. Or I could lie and say my great-grandfather only served in the Union Army.
Or I could apologize for the terrible things I had no control over. But that’s not who I am.
My family, like our great country, has a complex — and often very sad — history. I would not try to rewrite that history even if I could.
In my view, we should accept who we are and understand that we are not our ancestors.
Clyde Waltermate
Raytown
Judges, guns
On Oct. 23, 1987, the U.S. Senate voted to reject the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. This marked the last time that a Congress of one party would significantly work with an executive of another. The confirmation process was the first time in U.S. history that major special-interest groups engaged to defeat a Supreme Court nominee.
A coalition of pro-abortion and civil rights groups actively worked to misrepresent Bork’s record as a Yale law school professor and as a circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. The coalition’s actions coined the term “To Bork,” which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “to defame or vilify.”
In light of the recent mass shootings, it is interesting to recall Judge Bork’s rejection of what he called the “NRA view” of the Second Amendment, a view that he described as a “belief that the Constitution guarantees a right to Teflon-coated bullets.”
Judge Bork believed the Second Amendment guaranteed only a right to participate in a government militia.
John Mullen
Kansas City
Better policing
I am president of the Truman Road Corridor Association, a charity that has a strong interest in the East Side of Kansas City. I recently met with the powers that be from the Kansas City Police Department East Patrol Division about my wish to bring back community policing.
I am reminded that when the Truman Road Corridor Association was founded 15 years ago we would see police walking, riding horses and biking along Truman Road.
The officials at the East Patrol Division told me those days are in the past and never will return. They said their leaders have changed instead to patrols on 911 calls.
This struck me as odd because I thought and said that the current method was evidently mot working (seventh highest crime rate in the nation). So why not consider a change?
I got no response.
David Biersmith
Kansas City
This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to scientists, research funding and Hillary Clinton."