Letters to the Editor (Feb. 23)

We know the ending

Kudos to those brave students in Florida marching on the Tallahassee statehouse to be heard. Too bad that most of the Florida lawmakers won’t do squat to stop the carnage in your schools.

But not to worry, North Carolina Rep. Larry Pittman has the answer to school shootings — arm all the teachers. Yup, turn our schools into the OK Corral until help arrives.

My son, who is a vice principal at a middle school in the Shawnee Mission district, shook his head when I told him that one. He asked what happens when he has to break up a fight or discipline a student and that kid goes nuts, wrestles that gun off his hip and uses it on him, themselves or another kid? And worse, if a teacher comes to his aid and during the scuffle shoots that kid or someone else? Consider the liability.

The merchants of death, the gun manufacturers and their mouthpiece the NRA, have decided that 96 gun deaths a day in the U.S. from homicide, suicide or accidental (never mind mass shootings) is not only profitable, it’s acceptable.

So I’m sorry kids, I love your passion, but you’re wasting your time.

A Convention of States

If you, like me, believe the U.S. federal government is out of control and needs to be reeled in, I ask for your support for Kansas Senate Bill SCR 1611 to call for a Convention of States.

Our founding fathers gave “we the people” a mechanism in Article V of the U.S. Constitution for states to call for a Convention of States. States would propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution and bypass the U.S. Congress to correct matters that the federal government will not address.

The areas of concern the Convention of States would address are:

▪ Runaway spending and repayment of the national debt, which is approaching $21 trillion, or more than $170,000 per U.S. taxpayer. We are way beyond the point of raising taxes to fix our debt.

▪ Rein in the federal government’s overbearing laws and regulations. We must restore numerous functions the federal government has assumed and return them to state governments.

▪ Place term limits on federal elected officials.

A poll conducted this month by the Moore Information research firm found that 67 percent of Kansans surveyed favor a convention.

Contact your state senator and let them know that you support the passage of this very important bill.

A GOP contradiction

Motivated “out of love” and a stated concern “for the well-being of others,” Eric Teetsel, a member of the state Republican Party and president of the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas (and former Gov. Brownback’s son-in-law), has now made it an official plank of the Republican platform.

The Kansas Republican Party is now on record as opposing “all efforts to validate transgender identity,” while at the same time claiming to recognize “the dignity of those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.”

Wow, I hope they don’t turn their “love” on anyone else who doesn’t fit the Republican idea of “God’s design.”

Care for serious illness

Palliative care is a great benefit to patients living with life-changing medical conditions. It focuses on providing relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness; and can be given alongside curative treatment. In Kansas there are barriers to receiving palliative care, including lack of providers and little understanding of the discipline.

We recently traveled to Topeka to talk to Rep. Brandon Whipple at American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s Day at the Capitol about an initiative to establish an advisory board to study palliative care in Kansas and make recommendations to improve access to it.

This is important to us because we’ve had several relatives treated for cancer within the last few years and palliative care would have made it easier for our loved ones to set care goals that would have improved their quality of life.

The bill has been passed by Senate Public Health and Welfare committee and is now ready for consideration by the full Senate. When it does, we urge Sen. Mike Petersen to support this important policy. Thank you, Rep. Whipple, for making time to hear our concerns. We hope the bill will become law this session.

Prayer’s to the individual

Again, if your values and beliefs have little or no substance, causing you anxiety when others pray in public, please don’t impose your pettiness on others. Just bow your head and pray to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, or any other higher power that guides you. Our prayer doesn’t force you to do anything.

This story was originally published February 23, 2018 at 3:54 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (Feb. 23)."