Unfettered Letters

They approve their messages

When political candidates state their views in a commercial in which they do all the talking, do we really need to hear them say, “I am (candidates’ name) and I approve this message?”

They must feel it necessary to let us know when they are telling the truth. What we really need is for them to notify us when they don’t approve their own messages.

Jeff Timlick
Smithville

Issues with Medicare and Medicaid

Medicare’s spending cuts

I disagree with spending cuts Medicare keeps making with respect to physician reimbursement (6/27, A-1, “KC area braces for new Medicare bid program; In order to cut costs, lower rates will be paid to medical equipment suppliers as of Tuesday”). Doctors have been squeezed to the point that they are refusing to take new Medicare patients, and the quality of care to the elderly will certainly suffer in the long run.

However, I believe the Advanced Medical DME portion of their program is long overdue for a trim. I’ve been using a CPAP machine for more than a year and find the price being reimbursed to my supplier is grossly inflated.

Harley Metcalfe’s claim of the “incredible amount of time” to train patients is pure hogwash. I had far more trouble learning how to operate my microwave oven.

Nancy Thompson
Jefferson City

Medicaid and Disabilities Act

There are increasingly fewer providers that accept Medicaid for personal care services. The trend is to self-direct your supports, but finding agencies that supply trained certified nurse’s aides in various parts of this city is very limited.

Many organizations take only take private-pay clients at the rate of $18 to $25 per hour, making this type of service out of our reach, although the need is great for families that care for elderly parents or have a disabled member of their household.

A local organization commented that “Medicaid requires us to abide by too many rules, for example, our building has to be handicapped accessible.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act is interpreted narrowly, denying protection to people Congress intended the law to cover. Ask your lawmakers to restore the promise of the ADA. We all have a voice. Let them hear yours.

Paula Shepherd
Kansas City

Waving the flag for free speech

I can understand Stu Tarlow’s consternation about those who would desecrate our flag (6/26, Opinion, “Plaza protester disrespects flag”). However, I can assure him that the republic is in far less danger from those who exercise their right to say or do stupid things, including desecrating the flag (a right guaranteed in our free and open society), than it is by those who wrap themselves in the flag while mouthing patriotic platitudes and trampling on the Constitution.

Ross Warnell
Liberty

No mistake: Iraq war is a crime

The debate over the Bush administration’s uses of prewar intelligence regarding Iraq (6/23, Opinion, “White House didn’t ‘lie’ before Iraq war”).html is a waste of time. The use of intelligence “stovepipes” to feed cherry-picked raw data from the Pentagon straight to Vice President Cheney’s office for use by the White House has been acknowledged by multiple credible sources, including supporters of the war.

More to the point, the United States did not go to war for the reasons stated publicly, as a close examination of policy-planning documents authored by the intellectual architects of the war shows. Economic and geopolitical rationales for military action predominated.

The Iraq war is not a “mistake.” It is a crime, in the proper sense of that term; a war of aggression as defined by the Nuremberg tribunal. Hundreds of thousands have perished due to the realization of the ideals of the same geopolitical doodlers who now wish to engage Iran.

Alan Kent
Kansas City

George Carlin cartoon

Regarding Lee Judge’s memorial to George Carlin (6/27, Opinion): People, before you start getting bent out of shape and start expounding about Judge’s lack of respect for our dearly departed, remember that cartoons equal humor.

Carlin would love it!

Paul Rola
Kansas City

The election’s race factor

Bob Hishaw (6/25, Letters) suggests that critics of Lee Judge’s cartoon (6/15), which depicts a GOP elephant saying “I hope America’s still racist,” are either missing the point or are in denial.

I am not going to disagree with him on the fact that racism still exists in America. You are a fool to think otherwise. I am also not surprised that Barack Obama’s nomination has fueled a rise in the activities of white supremacy. However, it is also foolish to assume that John McCain and the GOP would want these people on their side during the elections.

Judge painted the symbol of the GOP with a broad brush, depicting the entire party as hoping that racism will elect John McCain. How typical and childish, but not surprising. Even Democrats should be ashamed at that cartoon.

I would also conclude that the margin of victory should be measured not by the people who voted, but by the people who didn’t.

Kellis Miller
Blue Springs

Mr. Hishaw indicated that if John McCain wins the election, the margin of victory could be racists. If Barack Obama wins, it is almost certain that racists will have put him over the top. Change and race are the only two reasons I’ve heard from people voting for Obama.

Obama consistently voted a pass when he was in the Illinois legislature, and his notes have gone missing. His Senate site shows he voted on only three of the last 20 bills. He sat under a racist pastor for 20 years and didn’t realize it until it became a political burden.

Obama doesn’t appear to have ever done anything. He didn’t vote when he was in the state legislature, he didn’t vote when he was in the national legislature (even against war funding he so despises) and he didn’t move when his pastor was spewing racist rants. What won’t he do if elected?

Brad Hall
Olathe

Drilling for oil in the U.S.

In his article “Energy and where to get it heating up political debate” (6/19, A-1), Steve Kraske gives detailed information about the known proven oil reserves in the U.S. and about our domestic oil consumption.

His numbers show that the known oil reserves in both Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico total 7,585 million barrels of oil. He further states that the U.S. oil consumption is 20.7 million barrels per day. If his numbers are correct and we were not dependent on foreign oil and used only domestic oil to fuel our oil needs, we would deplete two of our largest known oilfields in only 366 days. This is the real story.

Our nation is truly in an energy crisis, and we need to find new energy sources soon.

Dennis Greenstein
Olathe

Barack Obama says we shouldn’t drill for oil now because it won’t start flowing for several years. Using his skewed logic, why should anyone bother to start college now, when they won’t have a degree for four years? Or go to graduate school, which generally takes a minimum of two years to complete?

The oil will never flow if we don’t start drilling, so let’s get on it now.

Fran Baker
Lee’s Summit

Be patriotic and slow down

Let’s get prudent and patriotic. If we slow down to stay under 2,000 rpm or drive five miles per gallon under speed limits in town or no more than 60 on the highway, we can significantly reduce demand and cost until we get oil independent — and perhaps reduce our chances of another 9/11. We can do it!

Plug-in hybrids are around the corner, and they are a lot more energy-efficient than cars that burn biofuels.

Chris Mahley
Fairway

Immigrant rights, responsibilities

One recent Sunday in church, our priest discussed a recent initiative by the U.S. Catholic Bishops concerning illegal immigration. Churches usually take a humanitarian outlook on these kinds of issues, so it was not surprising that the sermon discussed the “human rights” of illegal immigrants.

What was not covered in the sermon was the corresponding responsibility that goes with every right.

If immigrants have a right to come to the U.S., they have a responsibility to do so legally.

If they have a right to live in the U.S., they have a responsibility to accept our culture and speak English.

If they have a right to work in the U.S., they have a responsibility to pay taxes.

If they have a right to drive a car, they have a responsibility to carry insurance.

Any failure to execute the responsibility that goes with a right affects someone else’s rights, and no one has the right to do that.

Jim Stanker
Merriam

Why it’s called the boob tube ...

There was a picture in The Star (6/25, A-5, “Bring back my Spongebob”) of two young girls holding signs protesting high gas prices, prices so high that their mother had to cut off the cable television to pay for gasoline.

Yes, we are all feeling the pinch of higher energy costs. But every cloud has a silver lining. Perhaps the two girls will be able to use the time ordinarily spent watching cartoons on television to study their spelling lessons in school.

If you look closely at each sign, one has the word “money” misspelled (“monny”) while the other sign has “cable” spelled as “cabel.” Sheesh!

Timothy Earl Osburn
Parkville