Letters on bad laws, B-1 bomber, failing schools, climate change, ‘classic’ movie

Make legislators pay for unconstitutional laws

The idea of Sen. Jim Denning, R-Overland Park, to strip away a Medicaid patient’s coverage is the usual meanness posing as policy (“Proposal: Cut off Medicaid to hep C patients who drink,” Dec. 30 Eagle). But that is not to say the concept of responsibility has no merit.

For example, it would appear to me that legislators who vote for a law that is ultimately ruled unconstitutional should be deprived of their pay for that session, not to mention their state pensions. After all, it’s the taxpayers who will have to pay to clean up the mess.

Legislators have to take some responsibility for the things they legislate.

Proud to serve on B-1B

I wanted to thank The Eagle for printing such a positive story detailing the current operational status and capabilities of the B-1 bomber (“B-1 the workhorse of America’s air wars,” Jan. 2 Insight). I was among many who arrived in the Wichita area in 1987 with the initial buildup of the aircraft at McConnell Air Force Base. I’m proud to have been the first weapons systems manager (fancy name for a crew chief) for ship 98.

There are many of us old “Bone” active-duty and National Guard veterans living in the Wichita area who transitioned into the civilian industry, working at Textron Aviation, Spirit AeroSystems, Bombardier and other supporting companies using skills developed while bringing into service this highly complex aircraft.

I was proud to serve with the B-1B at McConnell during my last seven years of a 20-year Air Force career. Those years included the first day the aircraft arrived in January 1988 and the last day on Oct. 1, 1994 (when it transitioned from active-duty to the Air National Guard) – which just happened to be my official Air Force retirement date.

Demand better schools

When I moved here in 1965, I had been teaching in New York state, which offered both the regents (translate: college-bound) classes and the non-regents (vocational education) classes. I taught four hours a day, had two planning periods, a lunch, and a light duty.

When I began at Wichita Southeast High School, I had lower pay, five hours of classes with one hour of planning, and a light duty. The majority of students in my honors classes would have been placed in the non-regents track based on their performance. I said little, as the negativity toward an “Easterner” was strong.

As I attempted to maintain high performance in teaching, parents – working class, professionals, jurists and academics – scheduled conferences with me to find out why their youngsters were getting lower grades from me than from previous English teachers. Many of them went on to complain to the principal that my expectations were out of whack or that their children were not being taught well enough to achieve a higher grade.

At this time, the newspaper conducted a survey in which parents were asked to give their school system a grade. The grade was B-plus, while my grade for the system was D-plus.

Today, I believe Wichita schools are operating at a D level. That will continue until the community, represented best by Wichita school board member Joy Eakins (Dec. 15 Eagle), begins to realize how far we have sunk and demand better.

Climate talks a victory

The recent climate change talks in Paris were a major victory for all of us on planet Earth. However, the Republican presidential hopefuls and others including columnist Cal Thomas (“Belief in climate change like faith in Santa,” Dec. 16 Opinion) continue to reject the truth. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of the world’s climate scientists and nearly 200 countries acknowledge that climate change is real and is caused in good part by man.

Call them stubborn fools or deniers. Either way, Republicans are siding with their large financial backers, many of whom are some of the worst polluters. It’s hard to accept their stance in favor of big money and against the future of the world.

The Sierra Club has noted that Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest oil company, was aware of the link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change as early as 1981. Since then, according to a Greenpeace estimate, Exxon has spent $30 million to fund climate change denial.

To turn our backs on the truth may cause catastrophic weather events, such as rising sea levels and other major impacts due to global warming.

The Republicans should be ashamed. Their denial of climate change should be reason enough not to vote for them.

Qualifies as ‘classic’?

I read an Associated Press movie review of “The Hateful Eight” (Jan. 1 Go!). The Eagle headline stated, “A classic is born in Tarantino’s pulsating ‘The Hateful Eight.’” The review stated the movie was rated R for strong bloody violence, a scene of violent sexual content, language and some graphic nudity.

Does this type of content now qualify a movie as a “classic”? Has this become The Eagle’s (and perhaps our culture’s) new standard for cinematic excellence?

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on bad laws, B-1 bomber, failing schools, climate change, ‘classic’ movie."