Readers sound off on Gov. Sam Brownback, Zika virus, Kris Kobach
Brownback model
Considering the huge debt obligations of our federal government, many agree that government spending is out of control. That is also true of many states. There is reason to believe that all levels of government spending must be reduced if we are to remain an exceptional country.
Only a few elected leaders in America have made any serious effort to get spending under control. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is one of them.
He has cut the state’s spending, allowing more money to remain in the hands of working Kansans. He has reduced taxes so small businesses can expand and create more jobs.
Meanwhile, those who prefer to belly up to the government trough believe their world is coming to an end. They express nothing but contempt for the one man who has the courage to do what must be done to keep Kansas a financially sound state.
Gov. Brownback’s fiscal responsibility is a fine model for our federal government to follow.
Ed Geither
Overland Park
Bartle Hall curlers
Having endured the gaudy, terribly expensive Bartle Hall “sculptures” as a lifelong Kansas City resident, perhaps now is the time to remove them rather than spend $1.3 million to repair the ugliest of the four.
Melisa Burns
Kansas City
Zika virus threat
Zika is coming. It is certain. The number of U.S. cases increases every week. When mosquito season hits this summer, thousands of Americans will become infected by mosquito bites, especially in the Southern states.
There is no cure. There is no vaccine. The virus does not kill like Ebola kills. Zika causes severe birth defects. It kills the hopes and dreams of mothers and fathers by causing untreatable microcephaly (very small brain).
In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve emergency funds to help control the mosquitoes that spread the virus and to support vaccine research. Congress members in our area oppose the funding. By July and into the next year, we will see the terrible results of this inaction. As a physician, I ask you to urge our members of Congress to act now to approve the Zika funding.
It is time to put the lives of patients and unborn children over politics to provide this important emergency money to help control the spread of Zika.
Sharon Lee
Kansas City, Kan.
Kobach, golfers
Because Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach can’t find any voter fraud in Kansas, I suggest he spend his time dealing with golfer fraud.
There are hundreds of golfers playing out there with fraudulent handicaps.
Many fail to count all their scores, or they just make up scores to get to a certain handicap.
Others play poorly on purpose to get a higher handicap.
This is a major problem in the golfing community, and I think Kobach is the right man for the job.
Richard Johns
Kansas City
God in politics
Kudos to Yael T. Abouhalkah for his May 12 commentary, “Stop using God in politics to push prejudice,” regarding the insistence of the far right to continually interject religious dogma into American politics.
Anyone with any awareness of this nation’s history must know that it was founded on the principle of separation of church and state.
Leave the Lord’s work to our houses of worship and the state’s work to the representatives duly elected to govern it.
To do otherwise is to subvert a basic principle upon which this country was founded and that has served us admirably for more than 200 years.
William Shapiro
Kansas City
Big-box kindness
Recently, I was standing in line waiting to pay for an item in the rear of the Wal-Mart store off Interstate 70 in Independence when the woman ahead of me was having an animated discussion with her bank about her credit card.
Apparently, she could not pay for the items she needed to send her daughter, who was standing next to her, on a field trip.
Before I could even check in my wallet to see whether I had any extra cash, two Wal-Mart employees volunteered without hesitation to pay for the shoes so the little girl could go on her trip that morning.
The mother offered to return and repay the employees, but they insisted it wasn’t necessary.
Bless these two women who took matters into their own hands and showed the kindness that most of us can only hope to achieve.
Geoffrey Allen
Lee’s Summit
This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Readers sound off on Gov. Sam Brownback, Zika virus, Kris Kobach."