Letters on minimum wage, Jesus, asset forfeitures, drones, Clinton, Putin

Root problem is minimum wage

Regarding “Homeless families receive help from donors and church” (Dec. 30 Eagle): Sincere thanks to Cynthia Martinez of the Wichita school district and the donors and local churches that have helped the two homeless mothers with small children get a reprieve from living in their cars. What a gift they have been in assisting families and students living on the street.

Will other mothers, children and students find the aid they also need?

The real question still remains, and it needs to haunt each of us: How does anyone survive without being homeless or living out of cars when he or she is paid $7.25 to $8 an hour in wages and no benefits?

Does the state of Kansas care? Is Gov. Sam Brownback concerned about the welfare of these families or students? It does not appear so.

Inside the paper was another headline that read, “Pay raise for millions as 19 states increase minimum wage.” Sadly, Kansas is not on the list.

How would you or I live being paid $8 an hour, supporting children, housing, food and utilities? The minimum wage is a systemic problem that desperately needs to be solved.

All the organizing, all the donations, all the food lines and shelters will not end what people need most. And that is a just, livable wage with benefits.

Words of Jesus

Amazingly, 91 percent of members of Congress identify as Christian as compared with less than 75 percent of American adults. How fortunate American citizens would be if our congressional members’ actions matched their Christian identity.

Some quotes from Christ might be helpful reminders before our lawmakers make legislative decisions.

By the following words, Jesus worked to change the world through the lives of ordinary people.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

When making legislative decisions for the majority of their constituents, who are ordinary people, I do hope that our Christian congressional members remember these words of Jesus.

Seizing assets

A recent article should cause concern and outrage with every Kansas citizen (“Attorney for Nevada man faults Kansas forfeiture law,” Jan. 4 Eagle).

A Las Vegas man traveling through Kansas was robbed of $32,000 by the Kansas Highway Patrol. Claiming they suspected the money was related to a crime, the KHP seized it under the state’s asset forfeiture law. This law allows Kansas law enforcement officials to seize cash and assets merely because of “suspected” illegal activity.

This man has not only not been convicted of a crime, he hasn’t even been charged. But now he had to hire a lawyer to try to get his money back, which cost thousands of dollars and will take many months.

Ed Klumpp, who serves as the legislative liaison for the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, made the ridiculous statement that “civil forfeiture is an effective crime-fighting tool.” So are wiretaps, searches and covert surveillance – but all these require a court order and, thus, a judge to review the probable cause before such activities can take place.

Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, sought reform for Kansas’ civil asset forfeiture laws last year and was not successful, but she has vowed to introduce legislation this year to stop this money-grabbing assault on the Fourth Amendment. I urge all Kansas residents to write their representatives and ask them to support Finney’s legislation when it is introduced.

Drone atone?

With President Obama invoking his executive prerogative recently to create national monuments and, thereby, protect even more public lands and waters, he must finally realize he has less than a month to atone for his unprecedented use as commander-in-chief of “Dynamic Remotely Operated Navigation Equipment,” better known by the “drone” acronym.

The record shows that during his two terms, President George W. Bush authorized about 50 drone strikes that killed 296 terrorists and 195 civilians. At the start of last year, Obama already placed the call for 506 strikes that killed 3,040 suspected terrorists and 391 civilians.

He has been had been judge, jury and executioner – without due process.

Evidently Obama thought it was humorous when he warned the Jonas Brothers in 2010 not to get any ideas about his daughters, who are fans. “I have two words for you: ‘predator drones.’ You will never see it coming,” Obama said.

On another occasion Obama boasted: “Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.”

Clinton’s enemies

A letter writer quoted one of the president-elect’s recent tweets and concluded his use of the word “enemies” was snarky and did not induce us to try and work together (“Trump needs to represent all of us,” Jan. 5 Letters to the Editor). It reminded me of a recorded event I observed early in the campaign in which Hillary Clinton said that Republicans were her enemies.

I thought at the time she should have used the phrase “the opposition,” anticipating her later and continuing claim that she was going to represent “all of us.” Of course, that early in the campaign she did not yet know that Donald Trump would be her nominated opponent, and that he would be representing Clinton’s identified large group of enemies.

She had established his status to her early on, so maybe it was all right for him to now acknowledge it.

Thanking Putin?

Two letters to the editor last Wednesday that thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government for hacking the Democratic National Committee are a sad example of the divisiveness in our country. Putin is a dictator who supports the government of Syria, which is guilty of some of the world’s worst atrocities.

These letter writers seem to favor Putin over the majority of other Americans voters. Where is the concern about why Putin wanted to influence our election?

This story was originally published January 8, 2017 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on minimum wage, Jesus, asset forfeitures, drones, Clinton, Putin."