Letters on Kobach, oil and gas delegation, Keystone XL, Fesen, corporate cheats

Deserve better from Kobach

Secretary of State Kris Kobach said that a request that he release his income tax information was “silly” (Aug. 28 Eagle). Kobach is an unusually well educated man (Harvard, Oxford and Yale). He should know what is “silly” in politics, if anyone does. He also knows that no unfavorable inference should be drawn from doing what one has a legal right to do. He doesn’t dispute the right of his Democratic opponent, Jean Schodorf, to ask about possible undue influences upon him.

Kobach knows that when a debater prefers not to answer his opponent’s claim, it is common to disparage his opponent’s character – maybe even call his opponent’s claim “silly.”

He knows he could easily have offered the public a redacted (he knows what the word “redacted” means) copy of his tax information, omitting all references to his wife or her separate income.

He knows that in law when one refuses to disclose evidence in his possession not privileged from disclosure, the inference is that such evidence is unfavorable to him.

He knows a disenchanted voting public is becoming restive with evasive politicians who draw into question both their character and their fitness for public office. Silly? We deserve better than that.

Delegation rant

The rant by Kansas congressional delegation members at the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association meeting (Aug. 19 Eagle) included:

Single-party control of government is the best (in spite of the oppression of the people across many countries that have such governments).

Being energy-independent would be great for the oil and gas industry if the Obama government would cease enforcing regulations such as the Clean Water Act.

There is a cultural attack by a “religion out there that is advocating on behalf of making sure CO2 doesn’t escape.”

President Obama is “radically lawless” (although he practices the same executive order authority as his predecessors).

Is the Kansas delegation advancing the argument that there has not been global warming in the past centuries with the consequences of climate change and damages we are experiencing?

Do the delegation members deny we should do all we can to mitigate what contributes to that global warming damage (melting of Arctic ice caps leading to coastal flooding)?

Or, as reported in The Eagle, do they think that absolute Republican control of government is key for the oil and gas industry (and the citizens should fend for themselves)?

Congress should support all the citizens and not just pick favorite industries to support.

Keystone safe

Regarding “‘No’ to pipeline” (Aug. 27 Letters to the Editor):

Keystone XL is not a threat to the Ogallala Aquifer – and that is supported by experts such Jim Goeke (who has studied this unique structure for four decades) and environmental assessments by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. State Department. More than 20,000 miles of pipeline already run through the aquifer. That includes the first Keystone pipeline, which has safely delivered more than 600 million barrels of oil.

Aquifers underlie much of the United States. Tens of millions of barrels of oil and refined products move over aquifers in the United States safely every single day.

No oil transported by Keystone XL will be exported. The reality is that U.S.-based companies and other producers, shippers and refiners want Canadian and U.S. oil because it provides them with a safer, more secure supply of oil that supports North American labor and manufacturing jobs.

Fesen caring

Anyone who speaks to Mark Fesen for the shortest length of time knows how much he values human life (“Doctor’s orders,” Aug. 24 Eagle). I say this as a writer who has worked with him on his book, “Surviving the Cancer System,” and as a friend who has referred patients to him.

I’ve known Fesen to cut vacations short to check on patients. I know of at least one he helped leave hospice. He gives every patient his absolute best care and his absolute hope. He doesn’t give up on anyone regardless of the odds and regardless of that person’s financial situation. Furthermore, he bonds with each patient and each patient’s family.

In short, he is a caring, decent man and a brilliant oncologist.

If The Eagle spoke to more people, it would find that out – perhaps before another poorly researched article is published.

Don’t reward

Columnist Charles Krauthammer says the answer to corporate tax inversion is to lower our corporate tax rate (Aug. 30 Opinion). Would he also argue that the answer to abortion is to lower our abortion restrictions? Of course not, because those laws apply to mere humans. Corporations are kings: They’re now people to such a degree that laws and customs no longer apply.

Rather than reward corporate bad behavior with still-lower taxes, how about we hold these business criminals responsible for their shenanigans? Let’s start with Walmart – where some full-time workers are paid so little that they resort to food stamps, which they likely then spend at Walmart.

Business criminals and cheats belong in jail, just as they would if they were actual people.

This story was originally published September 2, 2014 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Letters on Kobach, oil and gas delegation, Keystone XL, Fesen, corporate cheats."