Unfettered Letters

‘Flip-flopping’ or flexiblity?

“Flip-flopping” and, “politics as usual” are terms that we see a lot in the media these days. Apparently, presidential candidates haven’t the right to change their positions on important issues once the campaign merry-go-round gets rolling. God help us if any new thinking or solutions to critical issues might emerge that would make more sense than a previously held position.

I would ask those who resist change of any kind, especially in governance, to consider an obvious fact: We’ve had eight years of “stay the course” thinking, and look where it’s gotten us.

We can’t afford a president who never changes his mind. The new president will have to be able to think on his feet while facing volatile global issues and the critical issues facing this nation. Barack Obama probably has the upper hand in this department.

Of all the tough issues that confront these two candidates, I believe that our new president’s greatest challenge will be restoring this country’s faith in a government that has lost its way.

Larry Bowser
Kansas City

McCain’s rocky campaign

Have you ever been in a skidding car, hoping it would stop without hitting anything? That feeling must envelop the McCain campaign.

His main problem seems to be with lobbyists. First, one after another had to leave his campaign when their client lists were made public. Now Phil Gramm, a lobbyist whose client UBS recently lost billions following his advice, loudly voices what many would think are typical Bush-Republican opinions about the economy (7/11, A-10, “McCain adviser: Quit whining”).

There must be some days Sen. McCain longs for the Hanoi Hilton.

Tracy Leonard
Kansas City

Obama just another politician

Will the real Barack Obama please stand up? All this recent policy shifting has the faithful starting to agitate.

FISA? Railed against it, now supports it. Out of Iraq in 16 months? Now maybe not so fast. Iran not a real threat? Guess they did just test fire some long-range missiles, some capable of reaching Israel and American troops in the region. Faith-based initiatives and abortion rights? Hmm, better look central on those issues, might need some of those disgruntled conservative voters in November.

Spike Lee said that after Obama is elected we’ll have to measure time as “before Obama and after Obama.” Puh-leeze! Get a radar fix on reality here.

Obama is just another politician who mastered the art of hyper-rotation and political expediency when it comes to the issues. His supporters have already crowned him the new JFK, the new messiah.

What will they do if he ever becomes his own person? We all know what the Rev. Jesse Jackson has in mind.

Mark Haskell
Olathe

Social Security and war

Speaking about Social Security, John McCain says, the fact we are supporting present-day retirees with taxes paid by workers is “an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed” (7/10, A-2, “The Buzz”). This is a false argument by conservatives who blame social programs for the national debt.

Don’t senators ever read the Treasury reports on the deficits or the budgets they supposedly approve? For 2007, Social Security brought in $201 billion more than was spent, and there is a $2 trillion balance in the trust fund.

The problem is we have been spending the trust funds for hot and cold wars over the last quarter-century and are hemorrhaging red ink, as well as blood, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Congress appropriated more than $800 billion this year for the Defense Department, not counting the half-dozen other agencies involved in war activities or the interest on our monumental war-incurred national debt. This situation has been exacerbated by tax cuts for other corporations, defense contractors, oil companies, and the wealthy.

Moreover, the Treasury has been pushing debt forward into the next fiscal year, and we don’t count military equipment and munitions as an expenditure.

Social Security doesn’t need fixing, war does.

G. Ross Stephens
Professor emeritus, political science and public administration, UMKC
Leawood

Views on candidates

Inexperienced Obama is all talk

Electing Barack Obama as president would be like promoting the mailroom clerk to the CEO position. This comment is based on his lack of experience, so please don’t label me racist.

As for his mantra of change: It’s the same-old same-old repackaged. I think he would make a great motivational speaker for a seminar company. He says nothing with such unrelieved enthusiasm. People seem to like that.

Joanne King
Kansas City

Advice from turncoat Lieberman

Yes, I’m going to say it. Joe Lieberman is a traitor. How must his Democratic supporters in Connecticut have felt when he decided to switch parties after he realized his being re-elected as a Democrat was not going to happen?

I read in the 7/13 Star (A-2, “The Buzz”) that a month after accusing the Obama campaign of “sleazy tactics,” Joe Lieberman has decided to give Barack Obama some advice in picking a running mate.

Oh, wow, so let’s all listen to Mr. Credibility.

Joe Lieberman’s pandering to John McCain and the Republicans is disgustingly transparent. His party switch from Democrat to Independent was faster than a speeding bullet and Clark Kent’s transformation into Superman.

Susan F. Weiner
Overland Park

Pat Roberts soft on Big Oil

Heading across Kansas for the Fourth of July weekend, I was disheartened by the continued high prices of gas: $4.06 in Lenexa, $3.98 in Wamego, $3.97 in Hays.

Record high gas prices are a result of the disastrous policy decisions made by Washington politicians, including my opponent, Pat Roberts.

Roberts voted for the war in Iraq that has added a “war premium” to the price of gas.

He voted for the Bush administration’s reckless spend-and-borrow fiscal policy, resulting in record deficits, a weaker dollar and higher gas prices.

Roberts voted to extend tax breaks for oil companies even though they have reported record profits totaling more than $600 billion in the last seven years.

And until this year Roberts voted against requiring automakers to improve gas mileage in new cars.

When Roberts was elected to the Senate 12 years ago, gas cost $1.26 per gallon. Since then, gas prices have more than tripled. Kansas cannot afford another six years with Pat Roberts in the Senate.

It’s time to retire the politicians who led us into this mess and elect new leaders who will stop rewarding oil companies and start looking out for Kansas families.

Jim Slattery
Candidate for U.S. Senate
Topeka

Dennis Moore’s promises

I really take offense at Dennis Moore’s comment that he is only one of 435 representatives, and so he can’t change things (7/5, A-1, “3rd District matchup is a matter of money”). Is that what he promoted when he sought re-election? I remember how many things he said he would make better for those who voted for him. Has he done any of it?

He is just like the other elected officials who promise us much when running for office and never follow through.

As for the presidential election that we will be hearing so much about in the next months, expect the same empty promises. Whoever gets elected, I doubt we will see many changes. I am tired of people in office spending my money for things I do not support.

Isn’t it time we the people (the ones who seem to elect the knuckleheaded senators and representatives repeatedly) stand up and say “no more?” We can do better. We can no longer let them get by with their empty promises.

Melissa Smith
Leawood

JoCo taxpayers already strapped

I received a note from the Johnson County regarding a quarter-cent sales tax to be used for public safety projects. It doesn’t sound like a lot, and much can be done with the money. But why now, when our economy is heading on a downward pattern and will probably get worse before we see a change?

Another problem with this taxation is there is no sunset provision, which means the tax will remain on the books forever. I could see the tax if it had a provision that it would end in a couple of years, but it doesn’t.

County government needs to understand that we are not an endless source of funding, even for projects that may need support. Johnson County government needs to tighten its belt, just like individual residents are doing.

Dave Anderson
Olathe

Political perspectives

‘Flip-flopping’ nothing new

It’s almost impossible to listen to a TV news commentator without Barack Obama or John McCain being accused of flip-flopping on an issue. In fact, it was a major cause of Sen. John Kerry losing the 2004 election when Kerry was accused of flip-flopping on the war issue.

Candidates for the presidency on both parties have been changing their policies since the time of Lincoln. Before his first presidential bid, Lincoln was pro-slavery, but later on he became strongly against it.

President Lyndon Johnson was never in favor of civil rights for black people, but later pushed the Civil Rights Law of l964 that resulted in the South becoming staunchly Republican.

Remember the first President Bush’s promise of “Read my lips: no new taxes.” He flip-flopped, and it cost him his re-election.

Politicians on both sides have been changing their views on abortion for years.

Flip-flopping on important issues can be critical in an election. However, lately the media has been nitpicking both nominees’ statements to the point that flip-flopping has almost become a mortal sin.

For the past seven years, President Bush’s views have been cast in stone. Perhaps a little flip-flopping might have saved us a bad war, lives and money.

Carl Galler
Leawood

Hillary Clinton for V.P.

In light of what has happened during the Democratic elections, I believe it’s imperative that Barack Obama choose Hillary Clinton to be on his ticket. There are too many Hillary supports who will otherwise vote for John McCain because they don’t believe Obama has what it takes to actually win. I am one of those voters.

This would be a dream ticket: his inspiration and her leadership.

Kenny Beall
Merriam

Energy rebates another gimmick

John McCain proposed a gas tax holiday for the summer and Barack Obama called it a gimmick. Now Barack Obama is proposing an “energy rebate” (7/8, A-4, “Two duel on economy; McCain discusses ending ‘wasteful spending’ and Obama calls for second stimulus package”). Isn’t that just an expensive gimmick?

The cost of getting our stimulus rebate (two letters and the check) must have cost a fortune. I think Obama’s change is just a different way of doing the same things.

Loretta Childers
Olathe

Obama: The new Jimmy Carter?

I am certain most people have felt that history was repeating itself.

I get this feeling when I hear Barack Obama selling l himself for the candidacy of president. Remember Jimmy Carter? He was an obscure governor of a southern state who presented himself as a Washington outsider, a fresh face who had no ax to grind, beholden to no one.

The young people of today who are smitten by Obama’s eloquence and charm don’t know that Carter also promised to solve all our problems.

I must remind them how Carter froze in his Ivory Oval Office for 444 days when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard overran the American Embassy in Tehran, took the American Embassy Staff hostage and humiliated the U.S.

He had the perfect opportunity and excuse — if it was even needed — to bomb Tehran into talcum powder, but instead he did nothing. It was at this point that the Muslim world got the impression that the U.S. was weak and they could damage us grievously with no consequences.

Had Carter acted decisively like a president of the U.S. should, we would not be facing an Iranian nuclear nightmare today.

Andrew Reiz
Overland Park

Playing ‘gotcha’ this election

It is with a certain amount of bemusement that I have followed the dustup over the comment by Wesley Clark concerning John McCain’s military qualifications to be president.

I remember all too well the “swift boating” done by the supporters of Bush in 2004 to try to discredit John Kerry. Rather than promote the ideas and ideals of the candidates, we are much more interested in the “gotcha” aspects of their careers. Kind of sad. No wonder we have people from the bottom of their academic classes leading this great country.

Harry Truman said that the American people can survive a poor president. This may be true — however, this current administration has shown it isn’t easy. I hope that in November we will select a president that we can be proud of, not embarrassed for, and change will be forthcoming.

Please do your homework and make your own best decision.

Denny Gibler
Lee’s Summit

Political labels

If Chris Koster had been a Democrat who moved to the Republican side, how soon into the story (7/9, Local, “Fundraising by Koster called into question: Allegations suggest that his campaign used back-channel sources to skirt contribution lids”) would the title Republican Chris Koster appear?

Tom Nicks
Lenexa

Presidential politics

Is it racist to be anti-Obama?

I’m a little confused lately. We were once told that we simply had to vote for a woman candidate because it was long overdue and that it was time for a woman to break through the glass ceiling. Apparently, it was perfectly fine to vote for a woman simply because she was a woman. On the other hand, if we chose to vote against a woman because she was a woman, we were sexist pigs.

Similarly, we are now told that we simply must vote for a black candidate because this, too, is long overdue and that it is now time for a black president. Apparently, this is perfectly fine as well. But if we choose to vote against a black candidate simply because he or she is black, then, of course, this is racist thinking. Actually, it now appears that if you even simply disagree with the black candidate’s positions you are branded a racist.

Anyone want to explain this to me?

Larry Dickstein
Lone Jack

What is this nonsense that if you don’t vote for Obama you’re racist? For heaven’s sake, the man associated with people who were anti-white, anti-American and even terrorists for 20 years.

Now you tell me who are the racists.

Teresa L Mitchell
Kansas City

Let Obama turn the tide

I admire, respect and voted for Hillary Clinton and was disappointed when she lost. But I also like Barack Obama and his ideas, which aren’t that different from Hillary’s. I think John McCain is a good and honorable man, but I do not like most of his policies.

This should not be a popularity contest but an election based on which direction we want our country to go. We’ve had eight years of blunders and incompetence. Let’s forget petty peeves and get behind Sen. Obama to win and hopefully turn our country in the right direction.

Sandra S. Bolinger
Polo, Mo.

What voters want: Honesty

Recently I watched PBS broadcast excerpts of the two presidential candidates kissing up to the League of United Latino Citizens. And I am thinking, “Do the Germans and Italians and French and really every ethnic group have one of these leagues?” My Google search suggests they probably do.

But why? When asked what Latino voters want, lackeys for both candidates responded, “same as every voter.”

Darn straight! That would mean fewer lies and smaller lies. Lies that don’t kill our kids and mortgage their future. A few little white lies aren’t so bad, but bald-faced lies that ignore the obvious, such as weapons of mass destruction and global warming, insult our intelligence.

The sad fact is, it looks like this bunch plans to lie and cover-up right through the end of their term. Can’t come soon enough for me.

This fall, can we all get behind the candidate who promises that, when in office, he or she won’t lie?

Ron Platt
Overland Park

Presidential elections

On energy: Obama or McCain?

The Star’s energy editorial, (6/29, Opinion, “Key energy issues charge up presidential debate”) misleads with its comment: “On balance Obama has put forward a more complete package of plans to meet the nation’s energy-related challenges.”

Barack Obama’s “more complete package” includes: more fuel efficient vehicles; utility help for customer consumption; more federal funding of wind power; cleaner-burning coal; corn-based ethanol; no offshore drilling; no new nuclear plants. Thus, no serious drilling, and all else proposed is on the “if come.”

The Star omits the fact that we’ll burn fossil fuels for years regardless. The corn ethanol plan is an economic disaster. The veto of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge denies the U.S. oil production increase of 15 percent to 20 percent. That additional 1 million barrels of domestic oil production today would reduce our balance of payments by a minimum $500 million annually. Offshore drilling on our three coasts would be exponential in its effect.

The dollar is under pressure. The reduced exports would help the dollar. John McCain’s plan is much more realistic.

Robert W. Brown
Overland Park

Republican leans toward Obama

I’ve been a Republican voter for some time now. I’ve been scared, and still am, of liberal views, which I see as un-American. I see liberals as people who want to infringe upon my rights to be free. Do what I want, say what I want and think what I want.

Past practice weighs heavily in this. I’m old-school when it comes to guns and such. If you don’t like what you see, don’t look. I see liberals as people who have nothing better to do than look for ways to control my life — something I’m not ready to have happen.

I’ve been watching Barack Obama work hard at selling himself to this country. John McCain has some fascination with people outside the country, namely Mexico and Colombia. Why is this? Why is McCain worried about what’s going on there and not here? This instantly angered me.

I’m America first, everyone else second. Last week’s happenings between the two candidates have swayed my vote to Obama from McCain. Unless McCain steps to the plate and explains himself, when the time comes, my chad is dropping for Obama.

Jon Howell
Blue Springs

Obama’s new positions

Now I understand why Barack Obama is called the candidate for change. It was confusing since the initial impression was that he is a new type of politician promising a new direction and bold proposals. Did his liberal and progressive followers believe that change meant new positions on campaign finance, Bush’s faith-based initiative, federal wiretapping, gun control, parsing on the late-term abortion issue and now Iraq?

Obama’s positions even persuaded The New York Times to question his leadership in a July 4 editorial. Obama should have better explained that the changes he has been espousing were filled with empty rhetoric and a lack of conviction.

Sounds like politics as usual to me.

Tom Zach
Gladstone

Presidential analysis

Better off now than in 2000?

The July 4 Star crystallized the major issue of this campaign: change.

Jonah Goldberg (Opinion, “Pro-con: Is Barack Obama’s call for change patriotic?”) equates patriotism with the status quo. This has been the Bush (and Karl Rove) mantra: Things are good, and if you question foreign or economic policy or vote for a Democrat, then you are unpatriotic.

Thomas Friedman offers the contrary view (Opinion. “The focus should be on nation-building at home”). He recognizes that the U.S. is in a serious period of decline. Bush’s commitment to deficit spending and expansion of executive power has resulted in a plunging dollar and a weakened military.

Do we change or continue as we are? Restoring the economic health of this country by eliminating budget deficits, restoring the health of the dollar and rebuilding our military is not unpatriotic.

Those of us who support Obama want to stop the decline of this nation and restore the strength of the American economy and our foreign policy. Continuation of Bush’s economic and foreign policy under McCain would result in continuing decline.

If you think we are better off now than in 2000, vote McCain. If you believe we are worse off, vote Obama.

Bond Faulwell
Overland Park

What’s Obama really saying?

In the span of just a few minutes today I heard Sen. Obama make two statements that sound good on the surface, but when you analyze them, they make me wonder.

First, in a speech in Montana, he promises to stop global warming. Surely he means to reduce the man-made contributions, but apparently he thinks those that he might win over with such grand claims are too stupid to understand the difference.

Second, one of his ads says “I passed legislation” that improved people’s lives. So did he research and write it, lobby for it or simply vote for it? Or, like he implies, did he do it all by his lonesome?

But what do I know? I’m just a churchgoing country boy sitting at home hugging my guns.

R. Wes Jones
Smithville

Feeding the ‘flip-flop’ frenzy

John McCain challenges Barack Obama to visit Iraq. McCain believes that Obama needs to spend some time in country so his opinions about the situation can be informed by current, on-the-ground information. Urging Obama to visit Iraq is meant to drive home a point: Once Obama goes there, he will be forced to modify his views on Iraq strategy.

Obama then announces that he will visit Iraq. He does not claim that no matter what he learns he will never alter a single opinion. He reasons that, once he meets personally with the officers in charge, some details of his Iraq strategy may have to be refined.

What is the result of Obama’s reasonable anticipation? Explosion on the Right! Outrage abounds! “Obama flip-flops!”

In short, another nonevent staged by a political wind machine affects the media like red meat thrown to dogs. Another news cycle is wasted on piffle.

Joan Hancock
Raytown

Presidential politics

McCain and war in Iraq

As a fellow service member who served during the Vietnam War, I salute John McCain’s sacrifice and service to his country as a POW.

However, here is a thought for everyone to ponder. If John McCain the politician had been president in the early ’70s and pursued his present policy for war, John McCain the POW might still be a guest of the Hanoi Hilton in North Vietnam.

Dave Aber
Overland Park

John McCain is promising us “victory” in Iraq. But what exactly would a win be? The fact is we were lied into this war: Our goal was to eliminate Saddam’s nuclear and chemical capabilities and destroy his ties to al-Qaida. Golly, there were none.

So we can redefine the meaning of “victory” as much as we like. Or we can collect our marbles and go home.

Jim Waltz
Pleasant Hill

Don’t underestimate ‘change’

Brad Hall (7/1, Letters) is certainly entitled to express his opinion, but I wish he had been better informed.

“Change and race are the only two reasons I’ve heard from people voting for Obama?” Obviously Hall does not understand the implications of the word “change.”

Barack Obama is not speaking about change for change’s sake. He has specific programs designed to undo some of the wrongs perpetrated by this administration and to set a new course for America. And please take a closer look at his record, especially in the U.S. Senate, where he successfully reached across the aisle to secure ethics reform.

I especially bridled at the comment “he didn’t move when his pastor was spewing racist rants.” Obama says that such preaching was not a pattern, but he has repudiated those specific remarks by leaving the church.

I would hate to count the times I have heard something from the pulpit with which I did not personally agree. I had not realized it was my lack of moral courage, rather than good manners, that kept me in my pew.

Hall’s letter gave rise to a lot of thoughts, but probably none of them would please him.

Janelle Lazzo
Roeland Park

McCain’s qualifications

Gen. Wesley Clark said Sen. John McCain’s military experience doesn’t qualify him to become president (7/1, A-8, “McCain: Critical remarks help no one”). It would have been more appropriate for Clark to have said that although McCain’s military service as a U.S. naval commander, flying a jet plane off a carrier in the middle of the ocean, being shot down, held as a prisoner and tortured because he was willing to give up his life for this country does not in itself qualify him to become president, it certainly does serve as one of the qualifiers.

I don’t know of any mature, intelligent voter who will vote based on one qualifier. We are electing the president of the United States of America. Among other things, we will analyze his character, his intelligence, his service to the country and, yes, his family and friends.

B.J. Taylor
Overland Park

Barack Obama’s fanatics are at it again. This time it’s Robert K. Miller (7/3, Letters) who is reciting the Obama campaign’s latest line about McCain’s military service. In Miller’s eyes, it seems, “community organizing” is a “real job,” while military service isn’t. What an interesting perspective.

I was left waiting for Miller to ask how much the “public expense” was for McCain to vacation at the Hanoi Hilton.

How low will the Obama camp stoop? How low do they need to go?

T.J. Lynn
Prairie Village

Obama’s tax policies

Barack Obama believes “it’s time for folks like me who make over $250,000 to pay our fair share” (6/29, Moneywise, “McCain vs. Obama; The campaign season has financial advisers mulling the candidates’ differing policies”). Are these the same people who, the IRS says, are in the group already paying more than half of all federal income taxes?

For every $1 in taxes they pay, the highest-earning households — those making roughly $100,000 or more — get 41 cents in government spending, the Tax Foundation says. The lowest-earning one-fifth get $8.21. So how are people making more than $250,000 not paying their fair share?

Obama wants to make all income above $250,000 subject to the Social Security tax. Workers with average earnings who retired at age 65 in 2000 would have to live 13 more years to get back what they paid in, the Congressional Research Service says. Retire in 2030, and you’ll have to hang on for 18.3 years.

But if you made more than an average wage, you’ll have to live well past the current life expectancy of 78 to break even. So those who averaged $250,000 or more over a lifetime will still be paying more than their fair share even after they’re dead.

Tim Kridel
Fairway

Why Obama sat and Clinton stood

Sam Keith’s observations and conclusions (7/3, Voices) showed that he did not watch and listen closely as Sens. Clinton and Obama appeared in Unity, N.H., to show Clinton’s support for Obama as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Mr. Keith indicated that Clinton’s standing attentively during Obama’s speech indicated an experienced leader and lady, while Obama’s sitting during Clinton’s remarks revealed carelessness and inexperience as a leader.

If Mr. Keith had listened and watched closely, he would have heard Obama advise Clinton to be careful because of the placement of the stool. He would have seen the camera pan to the stool and the back of the stool showing how close the stool was placed to the edge of the stage with nothing behind it.

Additionally, he would have seen Clinton look at the stool and evidently decide not to sit on it. Mr. Keith would have also seen how tall the stool was and realized that it would have been awkward (and possibly hazardous) for Clinton to sit down.

I don’t believe a stool would have been placed on the stage if both senators had not planned to sit and allow the speaker to be the focus of the audience.

Juanita Hendricks
Kansas City

Condoleezza Rice for V.P.

Condoleezza Rice for president! OK, she’d have to be vice president for a while, but here’s a woman who can bring youth, athletic strength, vitality, wisdom, statewomanship and a visionary and caring worldview to the office of president, along with a great smile.

She’s the essential running mate for equally visionary war hero and gifted Sen. John McCain — an unbeatable pairing. And there isn’t another twosome who can win.

Please, Condi, take a break from academia for a few years so you can have many more truly memorable experiences to share with your students and the world.

Rick Gutknecht
Prairie Village

Ode to Bush and McCain

To the tune of “Love and Marriage”:

Bush and McCain
Bush and McCain
Joined together but with just one brain
Let me tell you, brother
You can’t have one without the other
Try, try, try to separate them
It’s an illusion
Try, try and you will come to this conclusion
Bush and McCain
Bush and McCain
Sweet and false like aspartame
Let me tell you, brother
You can’t have one
No you can’t have one without the other

Harold Oppenheim
Kansas City

Michelle Obama for veep

Shouldn’t Michelle Obama volunteer to serve as vice president to her husband? It would save us taxpayers a little money.

Jo Ann Gippner
Raytown

Political discrimination?

I read with interest the letter from Richard Powelson (6/24, “Political discrimination”). He said he’s considered both Democrat and Republican. Is this an Independent?

From my viewpoint, the only things he wrote that sounded remotely Democratic were his views on Social Security and military benefits. I feel by his comments he’s already made his choice in the presidential election — McCain.

As far as discrimination theories, I don’t feel I’m discriminated against. I’m Caucasian and 70 years old.

I do commend Powelson for his military service.

Grant L. Nelson
Kansas City

Look beyond the sound bites

I recently watched an MSNBC report with the headline: “McCain heckled at conference of Latino elected, appointed leaders.” CNN also reported that the hecklers were “credentialed” and implied they were not extremists but represented the Latino group.

However on C-SPAN, I watched the actual event and was surprised to discover that the audience jeered the war protestors and applauded after they were removed. In addition, John McCain’s remarks were greeted numerous times with applause. He received a standing ovation at the end of his speech and after the following question-and-answer session. These facts were amazingly lacking in the reports cited above.

This is not a partisan issue. I could cite several more examples of biased reporting on the other side, but the lesson I learned is simple: If you want to really know what happened, watch the actual event itself.

Please take the time to be a truly informed voter and don’t settle for the biased, self-serving snippets that some in the mainstream media pass along as fact.

Steven Go
Overland Park

Here come the robo calls

I guess it is time for the annoyance of political calls. I resent the robo calls from candidates and so-called political pollsters.

Why should they invade my privacy and always call at inconvenient times? They never leave a contact number so I can voice my displeasure.

I am sure others feel the same. It is a long time until November.

Jean Taylor
Olathe

Obama Campaign

Obama is no mystery

Jerry Overstreet's letter (6/26) questioning Barack Obama’s qualifications asks, “But who is he?”

Anyone who thinks that Sen. Obama achieved his status solely on the basis of his keynote speech at the Democratic Convention four years ago has been in hibernation.

That incredible speech was simply the spark that grew this great new wave of optimism. Obama was admitted to a prestigious private high school on a scholarship. He paid for his Ivy League education with student loans. Why does Obama get presented as some great mystery?

Why does Overstreet ask if Obama has ever had a “real job?” Obama was employed as a community organizer in Chicago, a private practice attorney and by the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law.

Overstreet’s implication that Obama does not want people to realize some shadowy past is ludicrous. On the contrary, he’s put it all out there for us to see. Just because he’s different doesn’t make him bad.

George Bush looks and sounds like John Q. Public, and look where that landed us.

There is a wealth of biographical information about both presidential candidates out there. Google, my man! Ignorance is not bliss. It’s dangerous.

Nancy Long
Harrisonville

Obama’s new flag pin

I note with interest an “Obama for president” ad on television. In this ad Obama promoted his Midwest roots and his Midwest values. He even sports an American flag pin on his lapel.

This is the same Obama who made fun of folks who wear flag pins, claiming that their patriotism needed this outside symbol while real patriots didn’t need to wear these pins?

We must be the Bible-reading hayseeds he made fun of in San Francisco.

Bob Gough
Lee’s Summit

Presidential politics

Obama’s qualifications

Jerry Overstreet’s letter (6/26) questioning Barack Obama’s qualifications to be president is a fascinating melange of half-truth, insinuation and omission.

Sen. Obama is a duly elected U.S. senator from Illinois, not a state legislator. Sen. Obama’s education was financed by a combination of merit and need-based scholarships and loans, the latter recently paid off by him. Nothing nefarious there.

John McCain received his college degree at taxpayer expense, finishing near the bottom of his class at the U.S. Naval Academy, which he apparently entered on a legacy admission. Not a point in his favor.

Sen. Obama was a successful neighborhood organizer in Chicago and also taught at the prestigious University of Chicago law school. Real jobs.

By contrast, Sen. McCain has had a lengthy post-military career in Washington as a U.S senator, again at public expense. In a government so often seemingly far removed from reality, is that a “real” job?

Clearly, Sen. Obama has far more going for him than his strong oratorical skills. Just ask the millions who’ve voted for him in the primaries and will continue to support him.

Robert K. Miller
Kansas City

Injecting racism into campaign

As one who was impressed by Barack Obama’s show of strength when faced with the Clinton machine, I was disappointed to see him open the final stretch of this political season by being the first to inject racism into the campaign during a recent speech in Jacksonville, Fla.

While the Clintons brought up racism earlier this year, John McCain has refused to do so, and its injection by Sen. Obama is a poor opening and a bad omen for someone we know so little about.

We will have to examine his record, his opinions and those he surrounds himself with much more closely. There seems to be more emotionalism than sound judgment by many of those so excited by Obama’s campaign.

Charley Morasch
Leawood

It’s Obama’s policies, not race

How dare Kathleen Sebelius spout the Democratic line saying Republicans would undertake “a major effort to try and frighten people about” Barack Obama because of his race (6/27, A-6, “Sebelius: GOP will try to scare voters; She echoes Barack Obama’s warnings of Republican attacks with racial undertones”). Sebelius is governor of Kansas because many Republicans voted for her, and now she turns on them.

Obama is opposed because of his positions. He plans raise taxes on capital gains, which those of us living on our retirement investments need. (Obama would prefer we rely on government subsidies so our country can become even more socialistic). He would raise income and Social Security taxes. He offers no relief on energy except the pie-in-the-sky alternatives. He accepts the global warming theory, which has no true basis in science (I would suggest he take courses in astronomy and geology).

For Obama, government is the answer to all problems. Goodbye entrepreneurs! None of the above concerns has anything to do with Obama’s race. It is the man’s policies that bring opposition to his being our president.

Jean Placke
Baileyville, Kan.

Brains needed in White House

I admire John McCain for his valor and war heroism. However, John McCain is not as smart as George Bush. We’ve had enough cowboy macho flailing a sledgehammer aimlessly trying to swat flies. We need some brains behind America’s considerable brawn. Was 9/11 a failure of our military might? Or our intelligence?

McCain’s years of war endurance and occupation of a Senate seat have not inspired him with profound strategies for addressing the diverse spectrum of pestiferous human behavior on a global scale. It has not necessarily imparted a wisdom of world vision, nor raised his I.Q. Being tortured in a Vietnamese prison camp proves toughness, but it does not make you the expert on world terrorism decades later.

Does militarily occupying Iraq for 100 years inspire those diverse people to like each other? Or make Americans any safer? We need more than tough; we need smart using tough.

Our energy anxieties, economic distress, international terrorism and national security are as much mental as military challenges. There is a brilliant mind behind “Obama-mania” — his own. And being brilliant does not preclude being just as bad as you have to be. It does inspire how, when, and where to be bad.

Otto Rieke
Shawnee

Bible and Rifle Church

The pundits on the Sunday plethora of political talk shows last weekend defended Barack Obama for his inane remark about Americans clinging to their guns and religion.

Those in Washington must not be well versed in American history or they would know about the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church. It is located near Wabaunsee, Kan., on State Route 18. Just Google “Bible and Rifle Church”

It is just close enough to the Kansas City area for a “daycation.” Take U.S. 24 to Wamego to avoid turnpike charges.

So, I suppose we are still hanging on to those values, rightfully so.

I am voting for John McCain.

Roger R. Bisby
Independence

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

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

Prepare yourself for election

Like Sens. McCain and Obama, we prepare for the November presidential election. Reading the newspaper, watching the news and listening are preparation times.

Of special importance:

What are plans for keeping our country safe and secure?

What are plans for creating a working and happy citizenship?

How will we provide for others and their needs?

Will we be encouraged to “risk” in the interest of creating change?

How important is it to encourage working relationships with others?

Is the need for sincere honesty in all relationships recognized?

Will we feel a sensitive, heartwarming response in actions and words?

Will a value be placed on history in recognizing strengths and weaknesses?

It is important for us to feel right in our hearts that we have prepared wisely for this important event in history.

Doug Sutherland
Raymore

Building a better battery

New-change ideas or same-old-waste ideas. The difference in candidates is shown in their approach to car battery development.

Old idea: Offer a $300 million prize to whoever comes up with a “leap” in battery technology for transportation, even though all of the auto companies are researching this area while our National Science Foundation is underfunded and basic research is lagging. Whoever wins the “prize,” be it Honda, Toyota or maybe a U.S. auto manufacturer, gets the patent and the profits.

Or, a new idea: Fund the NSF with an additional $300 million with a priority on battery research. The new idea gets the same results plus all the additional research knowledge, U.S. control of the patents to license the local manufacturers and the labs, university scholars and the new jobs in research and manufacturing.

John McCain proposes the $300 million prize for a battery. Barack Obama promises to spend $150 billion over 10 years to encourage development.

One candidate is for the same old political change, meaning no change at all. The other is for real change in how government can serve the people and not necessarily always the big special interest spenders.

Alan Welles
Lawrence

A white grandma for Obama

I am a white, middle-class grandma. Polls be damned; I support Obama.

M.K. Mustard
Lake Tapawingo, Mo.

McCain’s campaign funds

Ed Robertson (6/23, Letters) writes that if John McCain had reversed his position on the use of public funds as Barack Obama did, The Star would have used the term “flipped-flopped” to describe his actions.

Where has Mr. Robertson been these last several months? In the fall of 2007, McCain opted into the public financing system for the GOP primaries, which meant he’d later receive just over $5 million in public funds in exchange for agreeing to a fundraising limit of about $54 million for the entire primary process. The primary process doesn’t end until McCain accepts the nomination at the Republican National Convention in September.

By late November 2007, his campaign was practically broke, so McCain took out a pair of $1 million loans, using as collateral the public funds he would receive. After McCain had the Republican nomination all but sewn up, he decided he didn’t want to be bound by the $54 million limit. He did a 180 and opted out of the public financing system.

Mr. Robertson is probably not aware of this because the so-called “liberal mainstream media” is bending over backward to help McCain get elected.

M. L. Stone
Gladstone

Just look at their husbands

Even if Sen. Clinton were on the November ballot, I doubt she would have been elected. There are too many males who will never admit that any woman is more intelligent than they.

For evidence of this impaired intelligence, they need only to present as Exhibit A the choice their wives made in the person they married.

Louis Pushkarsky
Trenton, Mo.

Democratic candidates

Obama: An agent of change?

Barack Obama says Washington is run by politicians and he wants to “change” the country and help working folk. He says he knows how to do it. But who is he?

He apparently comes from a less-than-affluent childhood, and yet attended a private school in Honolulu and a very expensive Ivy League college. Who paid for all of this?

Has he ever had a real job so he can understand working people? It appears that he has mostly worked for and been kept by the Democratic Party in Chicago. Whom is he obligated to?

It is amazing to me that a relatively inexperienced state legislator could be elevated by the press to presidential candidate solely on the basis of one speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.

The man reads a speech well, looks good and has a great speaking voice. But beyond that, his training convinces me that he is the most professional politician in the country, a product of media exposure and talk.

Jerry Overstreet
Overland Park

Can this be the beginning of “politics as usual?” Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination with a message of change, especially in Washington. Now Obama has told the nation that he will abandon his once-held position of using public funds for the general election, a system designed to reduce the influence of money in politics (6/20, A-1, “In reversal, Obama rejects public funds”).

Call it the ability to raise money, call it a flip-flop, call it political expediency, call it the reality of Washington, call it business as usual — but let’s not call it change.

Jerry Stockman
Glasgow, Mo.

Looking back on the Clintons

Joyce Patterson’s letter (6/19) regarding Hillary Clinton hit several nails on the head. So many untruths and acts have gone unpunished or even questioned. It makes one think. It would be so wrong to put her on the Democratic ticket, even as vice president.

My hope is that someday, in my lifetime, Mrs. Vincent Foster will finally tell everything she knows — if not in a book, then at a press conference. I feel there is a lot there that has not been told for reasons unknown to us.

Enlighten us, Mrs. Vincent Foster. Please!

Alene Briggs
Cameron, Mo.

Joyce Patterson must have been influenced by the widespread — but false — Internet allegation that President Clinton first taxed Social Security benefits. Such benefits were made subject to taxation for the first time in 1983. Before then, they were not subject to income tax.

The president who first taxed Social Security benefits was not Bill Clinton. It was Ronald Reagan, who approved and signed the 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act.

Max J. Skidmore
Overland Park

Write in your vote for Hillary

This is to all the Hillary mourners and all the Barack-remorse buyers:

Right the wrong. Write-in Hillary.

John Slegman
Leawood