Would Gov. Blunt have vetoed the $500,000 contribution to the Truman Courthouse (7/2, Local, “Blunt cuts $500,000 aid for Truman Courthouse”) if it were the Eisenhower Courthouse, the Reagan Courthouse or the Bush Courthouse?
Mary Anne Baier
Kansas City
Arthur Benson II labeled The Kansas City School District’s $449,000,000 budget a “placeholder” (6/26, Local, “Teachers call for more talks; KC School District contract talks must go on despite threatened deadline, they say”).
Let’s examine that $449,000,000 budget. It breaks down to about $19,000 per student, $112 per school day or $18.70 per school hour — much money spent for little return.
I would change Benson’s description of “placeholder” budget to “screw the taxpayer again” budget.
Perhaps we should send the students to Pembroke Hill and save the taxpayers $4,000 per student.
George J. McLiney Jr.
Kansas City
Regarding Kathryn Rainey’s letter (4/26), “Let Funkhouser do his job”): Please do not be taken in by the mayor’s baloney. On the very day Mark Funkhouser and the City Council voted to slash the zoo’s budget, these same individuals voted not to fill the police personnel that had been promised to the voters.
It is not a case of either the zoo or the police. It is neither.
Linda Brunk Smith
Kansas City
I am already adopting a street in Kansas City, but The Star’s recent articles revealing the lack of inmates to clean up area highways (4/21, A-1, “Less help from inmates means that trash lingers on roadways”) and the city’s budget woes affecting litter cleanup (3/31, Local, “Landscapes to be trimmed”) prodded me to write.
I moved to the Northland after hearing it referred to as “God’s country,” and I have been very happy here. However, it seems that the area’s growth, along with ignorance, has greatly increased the amount of litter on our roadways.
What exactly does a person tell themselves when they throw beer bottles or fast food bags out the car window? Do they figure that the ever-elusive “someone” will clean it up, or do they just not care what happens? Is it so difficult to keep the trash in the car until reaching home, work or a gas station?
We are trying so hard to make our city a travel destination. I challenge my fellow Northlanders, and everyone in the city, to keep a trash bag in the car and to adopt a street or highway and help make our city the showplace we envision it to be.
Regina Ellis
Kansas City
The Star’s Earth Day (4/22) coverage was good, but as I took out my sack and gloves to pick up after people in the apartment complex where I live, I wondered how to get the attention of the young people, roughly ages 20 to 35, who work, live and study in the apartments.
Two of us, both seniors, pick up our grounds two or three times a week. We find cigarettes and cigarette packs everywhere: sidewalks, bushes, parking lots. We find plastic water bottles, pop cans and broken beer bottles where children and animals could cut themselves. We find mail that has been dropped and not picked up. We skirt around areas where dogs have not been cleaned up after, in spite of rules. We find dirty diapers on the ground in front of the trash containers.
How do we reach these people ? How do we get their attention? When do they learn?
Patricia A. Wilson
Overland Park
Let me get this straight: Kansas City is in a major budget crunch, and the mayor and City Council are going to accept a 4 percent pay raise, while the rest of the city’s departments have to cut spending and employees (4/22, Local, “Funkhouser stands behind pay raise”).
The mayor has said that he has to make a living and he will take the $4,000. He can’t make a living on $109,000 a year?
This makes no sense. Maybe he needs to get a new accountant.
It’s no wonder the voters think the city government has no ethics.
Hopefully Kansas City voters will remember this in four years. I will.
William Combs
Kansas City
There is a basic financial management term I fear many who complain of Gov. Blunt’s and Mayor Funkhouser’s budget cuts have forgotten: The word “no.”
I realize delayed gratification is unpopular in our society, but for an economy to flourish there must be more money coming in than there is going out. That’s common sense.
If I don’t have the money for that new car, I might have to settle for a “beater” and live on beans and rice until I do. I might not enjoy the sacrifices, but in the end I’ll gain from them.
Our city and state must do likewise. Cut excesses. Prioritize painfully. Generate revenue. Eventually, we’ll get our luxuries back, and we’ll benefit for years to come for having sacrificed in the short term. Meanwhile, wouldn’t we be better off with level heads and thankful hearts for the blessings we do enjoy?
Repeat this to yourself when you’re tempted to complain about potholes and cuts to the zoo budget: We can’t spend money we don’t have.
And send thank-you notes to politicians who are finally willing to look ahead and, like wise parents, say no when our best interests demand it.
Lori Chally
Kansas City
I live in the Ruskin neighborhood of Kansas City and noticed that the city is going around our neighborhood and planting trees in people’s yards. I talked to the company, and they stated that the city put door hangers on everyone’s doors to see if they wanted trees planted, and if one did, they got trees.
Now my question: How much money was spent on this door hanger?
We never got one but we have three large trees in our yard already causing problems with the water lines that the city has to come out and fix.
Also, how much is the city paying this company to plant trees? Who is going to take care of the pipes in 10 to 15 years when these trees start growing roots that get into the pipes and clog them up?
Sounds like this is one thing that could have been cut back on if the city is hurting for money.
Individuals learn to cut back on extras when money gets tight. Shouldn’t the city also?
Angela G. Heitmann
Kansas City
It amazes me to see the letters and comments from people from Leawood and Overland Park criticizing the mayor for cutting funding to the zoo.
Even though I don’t agree with the decision, I get angry when people outside Kansas City criticize. Reason: It is my tax dollars that pay for the zoo, the stadiums, the WWI memorial, the Sprint center — not theirs.
It is my tax dollars that are paying for the things that I cannot afford to take my grandchildren to see.
If it were not for the low cost of the zoo membership we would not be going there, and it is looking like that will be joining the ranks of the stadium and Sprint Center as unaffordable.
If you in Kansas are so interested, then why don’t you petition your city councils to help create a regional fund to support things like the zoo? Quit making me pay for your entertainment.
Linda Durbin
Kansas City
Citizens often look to government for aid during difficult times. Now it is time for ordinary citizens to help the great city of Kansas City during its difficult time.
This year’s budget crunch means mowing, planting and litter pickup will be curtailed. I call on churches, community organizations, school groups, children’s organizations, neighborhoods and all citizens who benefit from Kansas City by way of jobs, entertainment and sports to pitch in and help out. Groups can organize work days to plant inexpensive flowers, weed-eat, mow and pick up trash in many areas across the city.
I hope this financial crunch will not last long, while that given by the citizens to our city will live on.
Laura Textor
Blue Springs
Enough! Enough! The Star’s editorial board needs to get off the back of Kansas City, Mo., employees and stop the incessant bleating about city pensions and health-care plans being excessive. They are not.
The vast majority of city workers are dedicated people who work jobs that most of the rest of us would not do, for pay that is far below that offered by the private sector.
If you don’t believe it, just check the cost to get a heavy plumbing contractor, not staffed by illegal aliens, to stand waste-deep in freezing muck on Christmas Eve and fix one of your water-main breaks. Who do the brilliant thinkers at The Star think has kept KCI airport open for all but a few hours since November 1972?
The city has always offered a comparatively decent benefit package in lieu of wages that are equal to the private sector. Therefore it is intellectually dishonest, not to mention unfair, for The Star to constantly harp on the cost of these benefits without weighing those costs against what is saved on “public” wage scales versus the private sector.
Jeff Gerner
Kansas City
With all the talk about budget problems at City Hall, and ways to reduce expenditures, I have heard nothing about privatizing some of the city departments. This was considered several years ago, but died.
Up until a few years ago the fire department at KCI was operated by a private company that had run it from the inception of KCI in the ’70s. This until the firemen’s union and Mayor Kay Barnes brought it under city operation at additional cost to the taxpayers.
Several cities throughout the country have privatized city departments successfully and at a lower cost. It’s time that we do the same.
Joe Schmitz
Kansas City
As a newcomer from Chicago to Kansas City, I am amazed how much litter there is in the area. A lot of it I notice flying out from the backs or tops of Deffenbaugh trucks. It’s a disgrace. Now Kansas City wants to cut budgets on litter removal and avenue beautification (3/31, Local, “Landscapes to be trimmed”).
After the voter-approved light rail was vetoed and now the budget that provides the city’s aesthetic is being reduced, I have to ask myself: “What is the matter with these people?”
Then I figured it out. The mayor is an accountant. A great mayor will look for ways to raise money (in Chicago, Mayor Daley). Bean counters trim budgets. Next time elect a salesman.
Steve Schulz
Parkville
I would like to invite everyone in the Kansas City area to consider donating all or part of the tax rebates that the government is giving away to support the zoo and Liberty Memorial.
Think of it. Our leaders in D.C. want to stimulate the economy by giving away money. It’s happening when our states and cities are forced to cut jobs and services to make ends meet.
There’s a howl when the mayor wants to reduce or cut funding for “nonessential” subsidies. Instead of whining that the city needs to keep the zoo and the memorial viable, let’s support them ourselves.
I pledge to give my rebate to the zoo and Liberty Memorial and to make annual contributions. Who’ll join me?
Rick Dierks
Overland Park
The zoo has the same problem as the city of Kansas City does: too few inhabitants per square mile. I frequently visit the zoo, but it seems it is more for the exercise than to see the animals.
The zoo is much too big for the number of creatures it has, just like Kansas City is too big for the number of people we support.
A great model for a zoo is the one in Wichita. It is smaller, but it seems like it has more animals, because you don’t have to walk as far.
My solution? Sell half of the land and use the money to create a smaller, denser zoo. I bet that would increase attendance and reduce the amount of financial support needed.
Allan Anderson
Kansas City, North
Kansas City Zoo director Randy Wisthoff’s budget remedies (3/22, A-1, “Impending cuts to KC’s zoo get attention all over town”) were all cuts or eliminations. May I suggest a more proactive approach?
Make “Adopt a Resident” signs for cages, listing the “board and room” costs. Allow families, schools and churches to donate funds to support their favorite animal or family.
Hold a charity auction. Solicit donated goods from Kansas City businesses for a “Save the Zoo” auction. Contact sports organizations for “lunch with a pro,” for example. Enlist local celebrities.
Hire a professional fundraiser to contact charitable organizations and foundations for grants and donations.
Launch a membership campaign for the Friends of the Zoo, with a contest for the person signing up the most new members.
Hold volunteer work days, allowing volunteers to work alongside employees at tasks such as groundskeeping, cleaning cages and painting.
Place collection jars for donations throughout the city with vivid labels and zoo pictures. Volunteers could distribute, collect, count and submit donations weekly.
Erect a large thermometer at the zoo’s entrance showing the goal and funds raised weekly.
Rather than denying picnic lunches, why not get creative?
Jim Summers
Leawood
The Kansas City Zoo is unquestionably a regional attraction. The Overland Park Convention and Visitors Bureau, for one, lists the zoo — along with other Kansas City, Mo., attractions – as a reason to visit.
I would support a metrowide cultural tax for the zoo, Union Station, Liberty Memorial, etc. I have seen what Denver, Indianapolis and others have done to revitalize their city centers with metrowide support. We need to keep up.
If you oppose that, please consider doing your part voluntarily by joining Friends of the Zoo.
As noted in The Star (3/22, A-1), the numbers of zoo friends in St. Louis (37,000) and Omaha (60,000) dwarf Kansas City’s (16,000). A family Friends of the Zoo membership is just $65 a year. If we could double the number of “Friends,” that would more than cover the city’s proposed budget cut.
Whether publicly, privately or both, we must support the continuation of the attractions that make Kansas City major league.
Teresa Hellman
Prairie Village
After having read the article regarding the $1 million-plus houses that have had falling property values and even foreclosures (3/23, A-1, “An abrupt end for high life”), I am trying to figure out how I should feel about this. How does one even begin to compare a person driven by status and image when buying such a house to people who overstretched themselves just to finally be able, for the first time in their lives, to own a home?
Perhaps if the former had bought within their means and purchased a used Hummer or a “pre-owned” Mercedes, they would not have ended up in their current predicament. The basketball court and the spiral staircase might have to wait a bit also.
Wait a minute. I just figured out how I feel. Disgusted.
Rick Henderson
Leawood
Last Tuesday, there were more than 6,400 kids and their families at the zoo enjoying a fun-filled and educational day. These are the kids Mayor Funkhouser says his budget is designed to help. These are the same kids who will have no zoo if his drastic funding cuts are adopted.
Just what are the programs that his budget is supposed to offer these kids? I may be missing something, but I haven't heard one thing that the mayor proposed that is "kid friendly."
I volunteer at the zoo almost every day, and I think we need a truth squad with regard to the mayor's statements. Let's start with his statements that those not living in Kansas City don't contribute to the economic well being of the city. Has the earnings tax been rescinded? If so, please let us all know. I thought those monies were to help with the upkeep of Kansas City, as well as for fire and police protection. Where did all that money go?
Linda Brunk Smith
Kansas City
Ellen McLanahan (3/18, Letters) nicely explains how important the zoo and other Kansas City attractions are for the quality of life in the entire metropolitan area. In mentioning the importance of these attractions, McLanahan never speaks of offering them financial backing.
If the entire metropolitan area supported these venues, we could have world-class attractions.
What we need is a bistate cultural authority to levy taxes to pay for the zoo, the World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial, Starlight Theatre, the Jazz District, the Sprint Center and even the airport. The same goes for the Truman Sports Complex.
Until we all realize we all gain from these attractions and are willing to support them financially, we will never have the quality of attractions other large metropolitan areas enjoy. Kansas City cannot afford to keep paying for these attractions for the benefit of nonresidents.
Larry Bilotta
Kansas City
So now some want to charge more for non-residents of Kansas City to visit the zoo. That would require viewing every visitor’s identification. And what about those who live outside Kansas City but work there and pay earnings taxes? Do they have to bring proof of employment? What about our out-of-town guests? Way to be friendly.
If you want the zoo to have funding from around the area, work toward a fair and equitable bistate, metropolitanwide system.
Gail DeGeer
Overland Park
Eliminating city funding for the zoo will, in effect, take all the progress that the zoo has gained in the last four years under Randy Wisthoff’s tenure and throw it all away.
Take an afternoon trip out to the zoo and see what families all over the metro area are seeing: a beautiful zoo with excellent exhibits and programs for all ages.
Let’s work on a plan to get everyone involved in supporting the zoo. But to cut the funding and assume someone else will step forward to take over is foolish and will only lead to the loss of an institution that has brought enjoyment and discovery to Kansas Citians for the last century.
Gail Cianciolo
Independence
With the budget shortfall in Kansas City, the mayor is talking about cutting funding to the zoo.
This region has only one zoo of its kind. You would need to drive to St. Louis for the same experience if our zoo were to close or substantially cut back on its collection. The animals kept there are the responsibility of their human keepers (captors).
It is unfair to the citizens of Kansas City to be forced, through taxation, to subsidize this regional attraction. All of the new restaurants and arenas in the world won’t elevate this area into major metropolitan status if we cannot keep our zoo open.
How sad for our children when we have to explain to them that football, baseball, bars and convention centers are more important than taking care of animals and educating the public about them.
This is not a city problem. It is a regional problem. I challenge everyone living outside of Kansas City with a conscience to match my meager donation of $10 to Friends of the Zoo.
Steve Shaft
Prairie Village
Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s suggestion that the city close the Municipal Correctional Institution is irresponsible. First, we are talking about people’s lives, not snow removal or animal shelters, yet Funkhouser talks about them in the same callous way.
Second, of the 8,000 persons a year who go through the jail, more than two-thirds of them are there because they were sentenced for committing serious offenses. These are not individuals we want on the street.
Third, 50 to 60 percent of the people at the jail have a mental illness and, if not for the facility, they would be homeless and would return to the lifestyle that got them there in the first place.
Last, closing the jail would add to the growing homeless population because the people will have no where to go except where most of them reside now, in the recently renovated area called the Power & Light District. I hope Kansas City citizens realize this will cost the city much more than $4.8 million.
Guyla Stidmon
Executive director, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Kansas City
Support the KC Zoo
The Kansas City Zoo, after years of falling memberships, has been steadily growing and improving since the arrival of director Randy Wisthoff.
As a longtime member of Friends of the Zoo, I am proud to support our zoo. But as a Kansas resident, I am not taxed to support it. I would vote for such a proposal in a heartbeat. I find it beyond frustrating that the mayor would elect to pull funding from one facility that is actually working and improving in Kansas City.
Have you seen the new entrance? Heard about the new river otter exhibit? Recall that the voters of Kansas City approved millions of dollars for the expansion? The mayor believes people with deep pockets will step in and fill the gap, but wouldn’t Wisthoff have done that at the first opportunity if it were an option?
There is no doubt that residents beyond Kansas City, Mo., should step up and support the zoo, but to pull the rug out from under them like this is unfair. Mayor Funkhouser, please give us a chance to get this issue on our local ballots.
Kimberly Justice
Prairie Village
The Kansas City Zoo has become quite the place to visit. We are zoo friends from Lawrence. When relatives come, we visit the zoo. When Christmas comes, we visit the zoo. When spring and summer arrive, we visit the zoo.
When we visit the zoo, we are likely to visit the Plaza, the Crossroads District, wine and dine or pick up a few groceries at Whole Foods. The Kansas City Zoo is a true gem in progress. The zoo is not only interesting but great fun. Our binoculars allow us to observe the chewing action while elephants and other zoo tenants take time to eat.
The Kansas City Zoo appears to be taking on the same flavor as the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which would be one marvelous achievement.
The zoo in one important word: asset.
Richard Heckler
Lawrence
While I agree with a number of Mayor Funkhouser’s budget recommendations (3/15, Opinion, “KC Mayor’s Budget Sets Reasonable Priorities”), I disagree with the use by the mayor and The Star of “middle-level” managers as the whipping boy for cuts to help address the structural imbalance of the budget.
I was both a deputy director and director of the human relations department. In my 22 years of experience, certainly in our department and others, the so-called middle managers were and are the most efficient and productive employees. They performed many of the same tasks as the persons they were supervising.
I think both the mayor and The Star should not simply paint these persons with a broad brush but assess each position on its merit. The task requires a scalpel, not an ax.
The mayor has also recommended eliminating the dispute resolution division of the human relations department because its budget is only $331,595. That division leverages many more dollars through volunteers and other public and private partnerships.
Kansas City has recognized the importance of resolving disputes at a neighborhood level to prevent violence and destruction of property. This is too great an asset to our neighborhoods to be cut.
Michael Bates
Kansas City
Gee thanks, Mayor Funkhouser, I vote for you and now you want to eliminate my husband’s position at City Hall.
No matter about the many, many years he’s put in and the pension that is just a few years away. You got my vote because I was sick of money spent on fancy lighting and arenas we didn’t need. I also agree with you that we have way too many freeloaders from the greater Kansas City community to support with museums, the zoo and roads. But putting employees out on the street when gas is $4 a gallon and grocery prices are soaring sure doesn’t seem helpful to Kansas City’s unemployment and economy, But, hey, you’ve got pot holes to worry about, not my mortgage.
Terri Phillips
Kansas City
As Johnson Countians, my wife and I would be willing to pay a tax for the operation of the Kansas City Zoo — on one condition. And that is all the money must go directly to zoo and not pass through the hands of the Kansas City government (3/13, Local, “Mayor offers funding cuts; Several City Council members object to his plan to close the city jail and trim zoo funding”).
We don’t want any city government that comes up $70 million dollars short, with no explanation of why, to be anywhere close to our tax dollars.
Now Mayor Mark Funkhouser wants to back out of a legal contract to support the zoo, which speaks volumes about the integrity of the mayor and those officials running the city.
Don Dixon
Fairway
Let us review the financial condition of Kansas City. They are $48 million short of balancing the budget for next year and the city manager and The Kansas City Star have endorsed a three-year plan to bring the budget into line. We are to believe that the people who need $48 million to balance a one-year budget will suddenly become austere over the next three years? In addition, $2 billion to $3 billion is needed to fix the sewers. On top of all this the city government is obsessed with light rail. Proper priorities?
Tom McGuire
Kansas City
The “KC’s budget outlook darkens” article by Lynn Horsley on the front page (2/25) notes that the city is facing a $70 million budget shortfall. Horsley also notes that the city has $88 million in TIF obligations to developers. Interesting coincidence or the legacy of the Barnes administration’s tax giveaways to developers?
William Eickhorst
Kansas City
How Kansas City of you. “KC’s budget outlook darkens” (2/25, A-1) lacked something.
Newspapers should contain news. Why is there a shortfall? Who is responsible? The feel-good Cleaver and Barnes administrations?
What is happening, other than platitudes and innuendos intended to distract attention until next year? What budget items did The Star find wasteful or showing political favoritism? Does The Star blame Kansas City’s unaccredited school district, poor management or the shifting public dollars to out-of-state developers?
It seems budget cuts will come from the few reasons that this city has had any tourism (the Truman Sports Complex, Liberty Memorial, Starlight Theater, the zoo). And this after millions spent in renovations.
The “dreaded last resort” — layoffs of city employees — should be the first. Who could argue trimming the ranks of those responsible?
I have lost faith in The Star’s ability to publish news that isn’t plucked from the wire.
Jay Coleman
Olathe
Thank goodness there’s “a new sheriff in town,” as noted by Evert Asjes’ reference to Mayor Funkhouser keeping his campaign promise to apply rational standards to evaluating tax-increment financing applications. (2/23, A-1, “City’s Economic Machine Sputters”).
The very idea of a 25-year property-tax abatement for luxury apartments on the Country Club Plaza would be laughable if it weren’t so infuriating.
Why should KC taxpayers subsidize such high-end development in an already highly developed neighborhood, while many of us struggle to pay property tax bills that recently doubled?
I hope the new sheriff will stick to his guns on TIF as strongly as he has on other controversial, though less weighty, matters.
Many of us voted for Mayor Funkhouser to bring sanity back to the city’s finances and its role in development, regardless of which way the economic wind may be blowing.
Francie Hall
Kansas City
As a member of the Kansas Board of Regents since 2005, I am concerned about tuition increases at our schools (2/14, Local, “College tuition increases in Kansas left to schools”). Regent schools pay their bills with money received from the state Legislature, tuition and donations.
Twenty years ago, Kansas State University and the University of Kansas received 52 percent of their budgets from the Legislature. Today that figure is only 26 percent.
Regent schools have tried to make up this huge budget loss by getting people like you and me to donate to their schools. Donations have increased but not enough to offset the big loss from the Legislature.
I will do all I can to keep tuition costs down, but the students and their schools need more help from the Kansas Legislature.
Dan Lykins
Topeka
Jeff Langley (2/18, Letters, “Pentagon spending”) calls into question the budgetary practices of the Department of Defense. He further makes claims that the “mess in Iraq,” referring to Operation Iraqi Freedom, is due to fiscal irresponsibility by the Pentagon.
As far as budgetary practices, as an active duty member of the Armed Forces, I can honestly say that when given a budget, I have always used the allotted funds with integrity and responsibility.
As for the Iraq “mess,” progress is now being made despite the hard fights that are inevitable when facing an enemy with an independent will to succeed. However, to suggest that national security decisions on Iraq are the result of the Pentagon’s spending practices is absurd.
I would also suggest that the military is open to constructive criticism. How can trying to make the military better be anything but patriotic?
Maj. Thomas Chalkley
U.S. Marine Corps
Fort Leavenworth
The devastating cuts to Medicaid in our state, enacted in 2005, left more than 100,000 Missourians without access to the health care they desperately need.
Most of those who became uninsured were working families who are unable to afford coverage on the individual market, and whose employers often do not offer insurance. Many now put off seeking medical care or visit emergency rooms – compromising their health and driving up the cost for everyone.
When these Medicaid cuts were enacted, rules were adopted to put the cuts into effect immediately. Now, the state has the opportunity adopt new rules to restore coverage immediately for many of these uninsured Missourians by enrolling them in Insure Missouri.
While the proposed Insure Missouri program is not perfect, and does not cover all people who lost coverage, it does offer much-needed access to health care for as many as 54,000 currently uninsured, low-income working parents.
By approving this “emergency rule,” Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has the opportunity to improve access to health care for low-income families in Missouri. The members of the Missouri General Assembly should support implementation of this rule, and continue to work to improve the program and insure all vulnerable Missourians.
Amy Blouin
Executive director, Missouri Budget Project
St. Louis
This is in response to a letter you received from a Maj. Robert Murphy (2/14). He was offended by a cartoon portraying the Pentagon budget being bloated.
I worked for more than 20 years as an accountant for the Department of Defense. During that time, I was appalled at the sloppiness with which the so-called accounting systems accounted for appropriated money that Congress allowed them.
There were billions of dollars that could never be reconciled and accounted for, and were simply called “undistributed funds.” The fund managers in the Pentagon didn’t seem to care, as long as the money was expended somewhere, because expending the money, right or wrong, allowed them to justify an increased budget in the following fiscal years.
I personally get sick of the attitude that criticizing the Pentagon is unpatriotic hurts the troops in the field.
Maybe if people would have been more critical of the Pentagon’s budget in the past, we would not have got us into this mess in Iraq.
I hope in the future Congress uses as much scrutiny with the Department of Defense as they do other government agencies. It’s time the military brass learns to be as responsible as everybody else.
Jeff Langley
Lee’s Summit
While sorting through some of my old papers, I came across my State Board of Nursing renewal notice sent to me last spring. I was surprised at that time that the renewal fee had been considerably reduced.
I reread the letter and was impressed this paragraph: “The Board has been able to substantially reduce its expenses by closely monitoring the services of its contract investigators, reorganizing staff and streamlining its operations. As a result of these factors, the ‘bank account’ or fund has adequate revenue to support operational costs without charging the full renewal fee for 2007-2009.”
Maybe we could persuade someone from the Missouri State Board of Nursing to handle the finances of the United States.
Ruth Hunt
Raytown
This letter is in response to the editorial cartoon depicting a bloated Pentagon trying to shake the president’s hand after the budget was approved (2/9).
Our Congress approved the deployment of U.S. forces to Afghanistan and Iraq to conduct combat operations, as well as to hundreds of other, lesser known places to conduct humanitarian assistance (earthquakes in Pakistan, Tsunami relief in Indonesia). The military was the only effective immediate federal response following the Katrina disaster.
Should Congress and the president decide to have us do less, then certainly, the budget needs to be reduced. However, if our nation expects our military to be the pre-eminent force, able to simultaneously fight terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa while simultaneously delivering food and other emergency aid to our friends (and even sometimes our enemies) around the world, it needs to be funded to do so.
I challenge anyone to identify any federal organization that plays a bigger role in furthering our national interests (diplomatically or militarily) than our military. All of us in the Armed Services are committed and proud to serve, whenever you need us, wherever you need us to go. It goes without saying we can’t do it for free.
Maj. Robert A. Murphy
Platte City
I have listened to the expert’s advice on the economy and discovered the answer is quite simple really.
Rising health-care costs: set aside earnings in a private health-care plan.
Failing Social Security: set aside earnings in a private retirement plan.
Too much private debt: set aside earnings in a savings plan.
Shrinking personal income problem: set aside earnings in a market investment plan.
Troubled education system: set aside earnings for a private educational plan.
To avoid a recession: spend more of our earnings.
How can we do this you may ask? Just follow the example of our elected officials.
Refund some of your earnings to your employer (cutting taxes) and borrow the funds you need from China. I know it doesn’t sound right but it according to these experts it is the path to economic success for America.
James R. Talbott
Lee’s Summit
Recently President Bush submitted his 2008 fiscal year budget proposal of $3.1 trillion, which would add nearly $800 billion more to the federal debt in the next two years (2/5, A-4).
Bush recommends reducing Medicare spending by $556 billion over the next 10 years, just as 78 million baby boomers begin to retire.
Bush has budgeted $70 billion for emergency Iraq and Afghanistan war costs, although experts predict the costs to be closer to $200.billion.
When Bush entered office in 2001, he inherited a federal budget surplus. But the national debt has skyrocketed to $10 trillion during Bush’s presidency. The U.S. is “in hock” to Japan and China by hundreds of billions of dollars.
This out-of-control spending must end. If you are concerned about the soaring national debt and the long-term financial crisis we face, stand up and be heard. Contact your congressional representative and voice your opinion.
Jane Toliver
Leawood
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver recently obtained a $300,000 “earmark” for a jazz museum. If Kansas City needed such a place, then Kansas City should pay for it, not the U.S. government funded by the taxpayers in general.
Certainly this is one example of why, according to polls, Congress and President Bush are held in such low esteem.
Thomas F. Loftus
Fairway
Kansas Legislature: We need your help!
I would like to thank reporters Jim Sullinger and David Klepper for their article on the 2008 Kansas legislative session (1/14, A-1, “Budget worries shadow Kansas Capitol”). As a Kansan, I understand that prioritizing needs statewide presents an extraordinary challenge for lawmakers. As a Kansan who is also case manager for people with developmental disabilities, I know that people with developmental disabilities must have the funding allocated now to live their lives.
Harrietta Harris’ story is one example representing over 3,000 individuals across the state who are currently waiting for much-needed services. Without the funding, people with disabilities are left without a voice, without options and left out of our communities. I know that I live in a state that values all of its citizens. Please value each and every Kansan and provide funding to the developmentally disabled waiting list. Let’s work together to get everyone the life they deserve.
Laura Robeson
Prairie Village
Peter Theoharis (1/10, Letters) describes Americans as corrupt, greedy, and selfish. He also exonerates the government from our debt problems, but instead blames it on “we the people” or as he says “we the thieves.” He could not be further from the truth.
The national debt has come about because of politicians’ excessive-spending habits and the snowballing effects of worthless social programs. For the average American, the amount of money made from January to mid May goes to the government. The fact of the matter is that Americans pay far too much in taxes.
The government is to blame for borderline socialism. They steal way too much of our hard-earned money and then spend it like a teenager with a credit card.
David W. Kovarik
Overland Park
In response to Peter Theoharis claim that “we” are corrupt, greedy and selfish, I am assuming by “we” he is referring to U.S. citizens, including Johnson County residents.
Saying that “Constant demand for tax cuts is proof of our national kleptocratic psyche” is just a big-word bomb, especially in a country where 1 percent (rich people) pay over 30 percent of the total federal income tax collected. (For those of you who haven’t looked up “kleptocratic,” it means a government taxing people to their detriment, and somehow returning the money only to the rich people.)
Mr. Theoharis has accused my husband and me of being thieves, unwilling to pay for what the government provides.
We pay federal and state income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, property taxes and state, county and city sales taxes. When we die, our heirs have to pay tax again on what we have already paid taxes on.
No, sir, we are not thieves.
The taxes paid come from money we earn. We have to budget to pay our taxes. To expect the people in charge of the money that has been taken from us to use it responsibly is no less than we ask of ourselves.
Pamela Savage
Overland Park
If the state of Missouri has a budget surplus (1/10, Local, “Action pledged on key issues”), how about returning that money to the taxpayers instead of dreaming up ways to spend it?
The voters of Missouri have repeatedly shown that they support candidates who promise fiscal restraint.
If we spend the surplus this year, then there will suddenly be a “need” for more money the year after that.
Let’s show some accountability, public servants.
J.T. Lawson
Kansas City
