Readers share thoughts on Rep. Kevin Yoder, drive-by shootings and K-State football coach Bill Snyder
Yoder’s ‘truthiness’
Truthiness, a term created by TV comedian Stephen Colbert, is “the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.”
Congressman Kevin Yoder’s comments in his Jan. 5 “As I See It” commentary, “How to invest in America,” are outstanding examples of “truthiness” at work in both politics and economics.
Stuart Bintner
Kansas City
Drive-by slaying
I read in the newspaper of yet another drive-by shooting in which a young child was the victim.
Where is the public outrage for this and similar crimes? Where are the protests?
How long will it take for anyone with knowledge of this despicable act to come forward?
How long will we stand by and let the murder of these innocents continue?
It is time to work together to end this rising scourge.
Elisabeth Birky
Overland Park
Literature missing
The front page of the Jan. 4 A&E section of The Kansas City Star offers predictions for 2015 in categories titled “classical, art, theater, music and television.” Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of books, begging the question, Are no literary productions forecast for the coming year or is The Star merely adopting policies regarding literacy in conformance with the education priorities of the Republic of Brownbackistan?
Sunday’s Book section is reduced to a single page, with no literary datebook, fostering the impression that the Kansas City area has suddenly been afflicted with a bout of illiteracy. For the apparently few remaining readers of what was formerly considered literature, there are only memories of a Star that regularly included more than a fleeting nod to books and the local literary scene, a Star that once even had the audacity to include poetry in its pages.
LOL (lack of literature) may be the only semblance of a literary legacy in The Star.
Martin Zehr
Kansas City
Coach Bill Snyder
Congratulations to Kansas State University coach Bill Snyder and the Wildcats football team for their play in the Alamo Bowl (1-3, B1, “K-State can’t climb all the way back from deficit”). It was good to see gentlemen playing football again.
Quarterback Jake Waters would get a pass slapped down, and he went over, picked the ball off the turf and with a smile, handed the ball to the ref. Tyler Lockett would make a touchdown, and there was no dancing or pounding of his chest. Lockett just handed the ball to the ref.
I think the reason the UCLA coach was reluctant to shake Snyder’s hand after the game is because the Wildcats made his players look like thugs with all their personal fouls.
Snyder and I are the same age, and I can remember when we had gentlemen in the game like Bart Starr and the great Jim Brown. Now our kids see Tom Brady standing on the sideline using his foul mouth.
Thanks again, coach Snyder and the entire Wildcats football team.
We still have gentlemen in the game. You did not lose. You won, and made us proud.
Tyron Carlson
Lenexa
Helling column
Your commentary on the possibility of the Rams moving from St. Louis is on the verge of reckless (1-6, A4, “Rams put Nixon in a no-win situation”).
What has happened to the profession of journalism?
The column is false in many ways but convenient for spewing hatred and degrading our great state of Missouri. What is good for Missouri is good for all.
There are many negatives I could throw out about Kansas City, but why?
Reporting the news of the possible move of the Rams is one thing. Gross misreporting on St. Louis and throwing out Ferguson is almost comical.
Are you that insecure, shortsighted? There are a lot of great things in Kansas City that I love to visit while in town, but I assume you could not say the same for St. Louis.
Why are the Rams possibly moving? Because St. Louis can’t support a pro team? Really?
Why is the timing of this release convenient for the Rams organization?
Dan Compton
Ballwin, Mo.
Parker column
Thanks for one of the most truthfully enjoyable columns I’ve read recently (1-1, Commentary, “Sony fiasco suspiciously sounds like a bad movie”).
Metaphorically, Kathleen Parker summed up some of today’s absurdities with wit that made me think she could be related to Dorothy Parker, a bygone gavel of grace in journalism.
She once quipped that “the only ‘ism’ Hollywood believes in is plagiarism.” Those must have been the days when “truth is stranger than fiction” was a maxim.
Kathleen’s insight extends the gamut to include all major players in theaters of the absurd, where the new maxim seems to be fiction is the truth.
There’s no doubt. Will (Shakespeare) was right: “All the world’s a stage.”
But little did he know that the Globe (Theatre) would turn into globalization.
Yes, let’s hope scriptwriters create a new Superman as soon as possible. (Or perhaps Superwoman?)
Thanks again, Kathleen, for hitting nails on their heads.
Ron Bartlett
Olathe
Senseless deaths
Is a picture now worth 12 deaths?
We live in a world where obscenities against Christ are openly celebrated as art. Yet a historical depiction or any image, whether a cartoon or fine art, of the prophet Muhammad becomes a high crime?
Why do the prophet’s followers believe he gets a pass? Are they radical Islamists because they love Muhammad, or do they love Muhammad because they are radical Islamists?
I think we know the answer.
Richard F. Thomas Jr.
Kansas City
Cure fever of war
The fever of war is present, and it is growing furiously and spreading over the world. It touches the lives of all people.
The fever in warring nations is bringing great fear and death to millions of innocent people, and the destruction of lands is indescribable. It seems that there is no fever that is worse.
It is unimaginable to realize the damage for us when and if the fever touches our land, and our millions will join with the now suffering millions.
This fever must be checked. It is not too late. We must act now.
What can we do?
Allow your mind to think about the powerful weapon we have but is not yet in use. If used properly, I feel the fever of war will lessen.
The printed word is powerful. Its message can be strong and lasting.
Instead of showering bombs, before it’s too late, let’s have one month of showering messages that will bring hope to victims and bring fear and concern to the enemy. Let the best minds in our country form the messages to be given.
What action for the warring nations, other than ruining everybody and everything with bombs, would we share?
Doug Sutherland
Raymore
Voting always matters
I’ve been wondering why we have so much voter apathy, and the only reason I can come up with is that politicians want it that way.
Think about it.
In the midterm election, only about 36 percent of the eligible voters turned out, and over the last two presidential elections about 60 percent turned out. With that in mind, in order to win in the midterms all a candidate needs is 19 percent of the eligible voters to vote for him, and in the presidential elections 31 percent of eligible voters to vote for him.
In other words, all any candidate needs to win during the midterms is the support of one out of five eligible voters, and in the presidential election one out of three.
This really is a good thing for politicians.
The fewer people who vote, the less the candidate has to sway to his side, and even then we have to put up with political ads that are so full of garbage. Yet, people sit at home and groan about the gridlock in Congress.
To me, nothing will ever change if people don’t vote. Here we go with a Republican-dominated House and Senate, and already the Democrats are starting to act like the GOP did when it was the other way.
Thank you, America, for sitting on your buns and complaining about the outcome.
Leslie Christians
Kearney
This story was originally published January 8, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on Rep. Kevin Yoder, drive-by shootings and K-State football coach Bill Snyder."