Unfettered Letters

Lessons from father

As we watch our privileged elected officials irresponsibly spend our dollars and continue to jeopardize our financial future as well as that of our children, some basic economic principles come to mind as shared with me by my father.

When I was a youngster, he taught me the importance of developing a respectable work ethic, coupled with disciplined savings. Along that idea, he shared the dangers associated with the temptation of credit cards and the immoral intent of credit-providing organizations.

My father also stressed the importance of purchasing American-made products exclusively, reflecting the value and importance of maintaining our manufacturing jobs, which are our economic foundation.

And without fail, the collection plate was always one envelope heavier when it passed our family.

Thanks Dad, for serving our blessed country, flying our flag, and leading by example with faith and integrity.

Christopher Scarcello
Kearney

Finders shouldn’t be keepers

To the man who stole my $246 ticket at the casino on Saturday, Nov. 1:

True, it was my fault for either accidentally leaving it in a machine or dropping it on the floor, but that doesn’t give you the right to cash it in, which you wasted no time in doing.

It would take both hands to count the number of tickets or cash I have found and turned in to casino personnel, because they can track down the rightful owner.

As far as I am concerned, you are nothing more than a common thief, of which the casinos are full.

J.E. Adams
Kansas City

Caring about more than economy

The economy is horrible, and I care about that, but I care about more than the economy.

I care about our children and the education that they are (or aren’t) getting.

I care about the callous disregard for another human life — including, but not only, in the womb.

I care about how polarized our culture has become.

I care about the growing number of lies that are accepted as truth.

I care about how few people seem to be able to think through a problem logically.

I care a lot about laws that are selectively enforced.

I care about our freedom.

Betty Reed
Overland Park

Economic values

Weeping for America

I recently read some very pertinent articles from the Investor’s Business Daily editorial page of Sept. 24 by respected columnists Robert Samuelson, Michael Cosgrove and Thomas Sowell. They all three discuss our current financial crisis, and they almost make me cry.

Where have our members of Congress been while this current crisis was building? Where was their “reputed wisdom” to hold their elected office? And worse, where were we, the constituents?

The real power for change rests with the Congress. But Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid seem to be out of touch in their zeal for partisan politics — let the American people be damned; I’m getting mine first, and the Democratic Party second.

There will be a long, dark period ahead of us before any sense of normalcy returns to this country. And now we, the electorate, face an election of our next president and Congress. The choices are bleak.

Those standing for office show no sense in their campaigns of the problems ahead, nor of how to bring personal, national, and fiscal discipline back to the forefront of this country’s actions.

Where are those who would speak for such a move? I weep for us.

Robert E. White
Bonner Springs

Stop putting money first

The financial and economic crisis we face brings to us the opportunity to recreate a system that corrects some of glaring deficits of the latest economic regime. The environment and human rights must be integral parts of the new economic order that we create.

No longer can we accept an order where monetary capital takes precedent over human rights. No longer can we accept economic equations where environmental impact is ignored or minimized. No longer can we devour the planet’s resources with impunity.

We must learn that a good, simple life is not only possible but desirable. We all lose in this resource race that ravages the place we call home.

Finally, we must learn to share. We only have this place to call home. There are a lot of us here. It seems self-evident that if we expect to continue living here and want a decent existence, our only chance is to learn to share and get along with each other.

Ken Gates
Overland Park

Biblical problems?

Trust God for the answers

I am sick of the greed in our country that causes our economic foundations to collapse. I am sick of congressional misdeeds, lying and stupidity that corrupt one’s desire to serve the public. I am sick of political partisanship at the expense of our nation’s well-being and that of her people.

I am sick of the degradation of human value and worth that leads to the destruction of innocent human life. I am sick of the attitude that promotes a “me first” agenda and then plays the blame game when things go wrong. I am sick of all the chaos in our country and the world due to all of the above.

The reason is plain — the mistaken belief that mankind has all the answers. The solution is simple — put your faith and trust in God for the answers.

Peggy Fry
Olathe

$700 billion: A symbolic figure?

The number $700 billion keeps popping up. The original bailout and rescue plan was $700 billion. The $700 billion figure is mentioned as the amount being paid annually for foreign oil. And $700 billion has been quoted as the cost, so far, of the Iraq incursion.

I’m beginning to think it is like a symbolic biblical number, such as “40 days” in the wilderness, and “40 years” the Israelites wandered after leaving Egypt, and “40 days and nights” of rain on Noah and family. In other words, it is not a literal number — it just means “a whole lot,” “a very big amount,” or “enough to do the job.” Otherwise, the cost of the bailout exactly equals the cost of oil or the Iraq occupation. Not likely.

My conclusion: In each area there is a problem of biblical proportions.

Robert L. Thatch
Kansas City

U.S. will pay for sins

In the midst of the financial disasters, political betrayals, moral calamities and foreign enemies among the many tsunamis facing our beloved nation, it is astonishing that voices are seldom raised in the public square proclaiming the Lord God of history’s declarations about these issues. Where are the prophets calling America to repentance or to judgment?

History is replete with nations and empires that rose but then fell from identical destructive stresses pressuring us right now. Why does America think she will be protected from judgment for her national sins?

The situation is so desperate that I do not hesitate to warn anyone that this could easily be “the land of the free’s” last year of freedom. Evil forces arrayed against and within us could bring us to our knees. Hear the word of the Lord, America. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

John James
Prairie Village

Greed happens

In defending the lack of oversight and regulation of Wall Street promoted by President George Bush, Sen. John McCain and the Republican Party, my father stated: “You can’t regulate greed.” Greed happens.

Greed may indeed be a part of our human nature. It is forbidden in the Ten Commandments (coveting what other people have) and made the list of seven deadly sins. However, our willingness to kill each other is also condemned as part of our “fallen” human nature. I hope the government won’t give up trying to regulate murder just because someone is bound to find a way to do it anyway.

Rebecca Brock
Kansas City, Kan.

Greed natural

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to Jon Hudson (9/29, Letters, “Greed is not human nature”), but greed is a part of our human nature. Mr. Hudson writes: “Reading any high school anthropology book makes plain that human nature is to care for our fellow human beings, because it is good for our communities to do so and so that we are cared for in return.”

I will go Mr. Hudson’s observation one better: Take two 3-year-olds, place them in an empty room and give them one toy. Eventually one of them is going to say “mine!” and take it from the other. No one taught them to do that; it is simply their nature. It is only when our gracious triune God intervenes (that is, by sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins) that the direction of our nature is changed.

Rev. Kurt G. Rutz
Paola, Kan.

Walk the talk

David Manning (9/29, Letters) says read the Bible instead of waving it, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, not throwing stones and passing judgment. Yet if you read the first three paragraphs of his letter that is exactly what he is doing. Double talk is what I call it. You’d make an excellent speechwriter for the very people you’re bashing.

L.M. Kump
Liberty, Mo.

Respect life in all forms

My respect for people with a pro-life stance leaves when I hear that they also choose the death penalty. The same mindset is often against the use of tax money to raise those live births. Recently The Star reported that a majority of babies born to women younger than 30 were out of wedlock (9/7, Local, “A slow but seismic shift; Most mothers under 30 are unmarried, and the costs to society are huge”).

Either you revere life in all its forms, or you do not. A pick-and-choose modality is immoral, in my view.

D. A. Duke
Overland Park