Unfettered Letters

Could Britney Spears get into P&L District?

How would the dress code apply to someone who went to the Power & Light District dressed like Britney Spears was dressed for her “concert” at the Sprint Center? Seems like a dress code is moot when someone appears looking like a hooker.
Michael Horton
Kansas City

Limbaugh and the GOP

I am disappointed to see columnist Jonah Goldberg come to Rush Limbaugh’s defense (3/5, Opinion, “Rush to judge Rush doesn’t advance debate”).

Limbaugh is popular because he can make outrageous remarks and get by with it. Some agree with what he says but are not comfortable expressing the same opinion out loud, so Limbaugh has become their voice.

Mr. Goldberg’s reasoning that he also wants President Obama’s programs to fail, but of course he wants to see the stock market come back, doesn’t make a lot of sense. President Obama inherited this economy and debt, which took the former president eight years to produce. But the Republicans have jumped in with criticism after only a few weeks of Obama’s inauguration. When recovery comes, it will mean that Obama was on the right track, but the Republicans aren’t being shy about letting everyone know they don’t want him to succeed.

Limbaugh’s rhetoric is what freedom of speech is about, and we are so lucky to be Americans, but he is a negative force at this most difficult time for our country and the economy.

Barbara Pfaff
Gladstone

Jonah Goldberg was right. Conservatives need another William F. Buckley Jr. Rather than the incendiary bombs of a Rush Limbaugh, conservatism needs an intellectual undergirding. Bill Buckley was respected because even if you disagreed, he made you think and improve your ideas.

I believe, however, as much as conservatives need a Buckley, they really need a Margaret Chase Smith. In 1950, she was the first Republican to stand up to Joseph McCarthy. She stressed she wanted Republican victory, but “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to potential victory on the four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear.”

We need a strong two-party system in this country. Hopefully, there is a present-day Margaret Chase Smith with the courage to speak for principles and ideas, unafraid of the emperor of dittoheads.

“No” is not a solution to the nation’s problems.

Bond Faulwell
Overland Park

Let me get this straight. The Republican Party, the party that has sold itself for years as the only one that can keep us safe from foreign interests, terrorists and economic meltdown, is now the party that doesn’t have the guts to stand up to a radio personality?

That’s just pathetic.

Bud Simpson
Kansas City

Limbaugh and the GOP

So the left and the mainstream media are up in arms at the comments of Rush Limbaugh suggesting the failure of President Obama’s policies. How dare Limbaugh not support nationalizing health care, vastly expanding the welfare state, likely tripling the deficit of Bush, weakening the military, supporting a suspect global warming treaty, rolling back support of Israel, expanding abortion rights, illegal immigration and an almost unending list of other left-wing social programs that will bankrupt future generations?

Am I to believe that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, television networks and newspapers were striving to support George Bush over the last eight years?

Millions of conservatives disagree with Obama’s policies. Last I heard, we had that right. God knows that the left has been exercising the same position as Limbaugh for years.

Tom Zach
Gladstone

To claim Rush Limbaugh to be the head of the Republican party demonstrates the intellectual grasp of Mary O’Halloran as much as it does the power of Mr. Limbaugh (3/4, A-1, “Is Rush GOP royalty?; Limbaugh is the party’s leader, some Democrats think, while Republicans are wary to cross him”). But it has provided the Democratic Party leadership a much-needed distraction from Americans’ close examination of their policies. You know, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

What Mr. Limbaugh should have said was that these liberal attitudes and policies toward governing can no more succeed here than they did in Cuba or the Soviet Union. Whatever relief the Democratic Party may temporarily enjoy now will be short lived, as their wild spending, tax policies and massive deficits in the face of economic crisis work against America over the next two election cycles. They will then pay at the ballot box, as surely as all Americans will pay for these deficits.

Charley Morasch
Leawood

Reading Rush Limbaugh’s rants and the ditto remarks of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, I wonder why they’re upset over President Obama’s plan. Evidently there is a blank spot in their memories of the $700 billion bailout of the banking system that President Bush pushed through Congress last October, with the panic that we had to save the economy. All this occurred without any oversight as to what was going to happen to the money.

Any individual, Democrat, Republican or Independent, wishing that Obama fail in his attempts to stabilize the nation is tantamount to saying the United States should go down the tube because you don’t like our current president. Pitiful!

Joseph Zaiotti
Kansas City

Rush Limbaugh should be a happy man. He was characterized as “a big fat idiot” in a book title a few years ago, but thanks to his expressed wishes that our new government will fail, he’s never looked smaller.

Dan Nastali
Kansas City

How I hope Obama fails

I would not presume to understand the motivation or context of Rush Limbaugh’s statement “I hope he fails” (1/27, Opinion, “Disloyal opposition’s big fear: Clown time is over”). However, in many respects I, too, hope for failure of Barack Obama’s agenda.

If success means single-payer, universal health care. That would be bad for America, so I hope he fails.

If success means imposing cap and trade on our economy. That would mean billions of dollars of cost burden on our taxpayers, diminishing our standard of living with marginal if any environmental improvement. I hope he fails.

If success means continuing to bail out failing industries, not divesting from Freddie Mac or Fannie May and perpetuating the Community Reinvestment Act, I hope he fails.

Not all change is good. Not all of Obama’s proposals are best for America. Wishing for these programs to not become law does not make someone disloyal or unpatriotic.

Jim Wagner
Lenexa

In defense of the Clampetts

In a letter (12/5) critical of Mayor Funkhouser and his wife, Richard F. Thomas Jr. decries their conduct, stating “It’s worse than the Clintons, the Clampetts and every other ne’er-do-well couple made famous through dysfunction and general annoyance.” The Clintons can defend themselves, but someone must speak for the Clampetts.

There were no couples among the Clampetts. There was Granny, her son-in-law Jed, his daughter, Elly May, and his nephew, Jethro. Even California (at least in the 1960s) wasn’t ready to fashion a couple out of that mix. Sure, Aunt Pearl had her eye on Mr. Brewster, an oil company executive, and she was eager to find a suitor for her daughter, Jethrine, but by and large, there were no Clampett couples.

And the clan was hardly dysfunctional. Their home was an oasis of rationality in a desert of Left Coast madness.

Ne’er-do-wells? A malicious insult. The Clampetts were altruistic to a fault.

Mr. Thomas is free to say what he likes about the mayor, but there is no justification for his attack upon the Clampetts.

Jeff Maloney
Kansas City

Note from Self: Keep making Mom proud

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks at a charity event. I told him how my son Bryan is a sophomore at the University of Kansas, and that he is in the band. I was beaming as I told of how my son was on national television during the Orange Bowl in Florida and that he had participated in the National Basketball Championships.

A week later, my son called to exclaim that he was summoned to the band office as he had received a letter from Coach Self. Mr. Self told my son about our meeting, and that it was obvious that I am a proud mom. He also encouraged my son to keep making his mom proud.

Coach Self did not have to take time out of his schedule to do this wonderful act of kindness, but he did. I just wanted to publicly thank him for doing so. This was not a small thing to my son, and he has since become a celebrity in his community of friends.

Thank you Coach Self. I appreciate you!

Deborah Love
Kansas City

Tony Gonzalez a class act

After a week of trying to be traded to another team that didn’t work out, Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez still showed class both on the field and off. He’s still playing as hard as ever. Tony is continually consummate as a professional NFL player on the turf and as a person.

Recently he came to the long-term care facility I work for, bringing smiles, autographs and pictures taken with our residents — for them. Tony has done this every year and makes each one of these elderly and ill individuals feel so special and loved.

This is in sharp contrast to the other end of the spectrum: Larry Johnson. Larry, I am sure you don’t like being called the “Ike Turner” of the NFL. Take that angry energy and turn it around for the good of others. Let Tony be a mentor.

Thanks again, Tony!

Debi Dreiling
Kansas City

Apology doesn’t remove stain

Josh Howard says, “This is not the way I carry myself, not how I want to be portrayed,” (10/1, Sports, “Howard apologizes for anthem antics”) If what he did and said at the charity event is not his daily mindset or thinking, then why did it come out of his mouth?

Too many think they can spout off things and get it out in the public then apologize and make it go away. Wrong!

C.D. Rinck Sr.
Mission

Long live King Elvis

The Elvis parade was more then just a parade. It was a gathering of fans young and old to honor the King of Rock ’n’ Roll (8/15, FYI, “Attention, fans: Elvis parade has left the city”).

There were fun, food, contests and games. Elvis impersonators of all ages sang and posed for photos. It was a Memorial Day for the King, Elvis, and for the people who love him.

Kansas City should have an “Elvis Day,” if not a parade downtown. Elvis lives!

Sharon Gallus
Sugar Creek

Give your bucks to honor Buck

Come on, Kansas City. After reading yet another story about our beloved Buck O’Neil (7/28, Sports, “Award is tribute to Buck’s legacy; Joe Morgan accepts first Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of O’Neil’s family”), it’s time to take action. Let’s honor him in the way Cooperstown will never be able to do by fulfilling his dream of opening the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center.

Buck dedicated his final months to pursuing this worthy endeavor. What better honor now than to make his dream come true? Buck knew no strangers. The joy and light-filled aurora that radiated from him made me feel good from the inside out. You felt like a better person by just being in his presence: “My name is Buck. Now give me some love!”

Let’s show Buck the love by raising money to finish the project he started. What if we all donated $1? What if the Royals donated just $1 per admission for the rest of the season? What if every baseball stadium in America followed suit?

Let’s honor Buck in the way he would love best, by helping someone else and his community: our community.

Cindy Frantsen
Lee’s Summit