Letters on speeders, nuclear option, right to health care, offensive headline

What can be done about speeders?

Having driven the streets of Wichita for more than 70 years, it has become apparent to me that most drivers fail to adhere to speed limits on all types of streets.

Over the past two years, I have driven seven or eight different vehicles around town. I doubt that all the speedometers were wrong.

I try very hard to drive the posted speed limit. No matter what street I drive on, residential, commercial or bypasses, I am overtaken and passed by any number of vehicles.

I have noticed that young girls seem to speed more than young men. Add to this those on phones, texting, eating or performing other tasks, and it is nearly a white-knuckle adventure to go to the store to buy groceries.

How can we correct this? There’s not enough police to post throughout the city.

I suggest our mayor declare a “Drive the Speed Limit Day,” so many might see how it feels. At least it would be an attempt at awareness.

I have been rear-ended twice while stopped, run into in a parking lot, and have received one speeding ticket in my years of driving in Wichita. I stay aware when driving, plus my Guardian Angel works overtime.

How it happened

It started when Barack Obama was elected president. Not long after that, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made his famous statement about how his main goal was making Obama a one-term president.

After five years of obstruction, including 79 of Obama’s appointments having been blocked, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., changed the rules of the Senate to require 51 votes instead of 60 for judges to be confirmed, not including Supreme Court justices.

Then Justice Antonin Scalia died, opening up a spot on the Supreme Court. Immediately McConnell said there was not going to be an Obama Supreme Court nominee brought to the floor for a vote. Reason: He was in the last year of his presidency. Nowhere in the Constitution is this mentioned.

Obama nominates Merrick Garland, a judge who had been confirmed by a large, bipartisan margin to the court that is one step below the Supreme Court. True to his word, McConnell would not even go through the formality of bringing this nomination to the floor of the Senate for debate.

And then President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch. Democrats, possibly stinging from the treatment given by the Republicans to Obama’s nominee, did not get on board. So on April 6, McConnell launched the bomb that brought down the “greatest deliberative body in the world.”

Right to care

For those who claim the government owes nothing to its citizens for basic health care and that we citizens have no right to expect such a role from our federal government, I point out that it’s in the Constitution. The Preamble, the very first sentence, states that, among six core purposes of our government, promoting “the general welfare” and securing “the blessings of liberty” are the very basis of our rights as citizens. I certainly have no problem finding a constitutional right to basic health care in this country with that language.

Front-page news?

I was very offended when I opened my Eagle last Thursday. A front-page headline read, “More details of decapitation case emerge.” This was the day before Good Friday, a time celebrated by Christians in our city with numerous positive events. Was that really a front-page news item?

I have a nurse, a fireman and a policeman in my immediate family, and they work hard every day to save lives in our city without any fanfare. The Eagle needs to reward and do more positive things to maintain subscribers.

We take the paper for the puzzles, comics and sports. Wichita has local TV stations that keep everyone abreast on the evil of our city.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on speeders, nuclear option, right to health care, offensive headline."