Letters on government power, wrong legislative remedies, new lake, River Festival, pit bulls

Nation resting on power, not law

This will be my last letter to the editor concerning governmental abuse. My reason for ceasing to write is sad (for me) but simple: The U.S. federal government is not obliged to answer to a citizen for breaking its own laws – unless the Congress has explicitly granted the citizen the right to challenge the government.

You can complain in a letter to The Eagle (and I have) or to your representatives (I have) or in a street protest (I have) but not in a U.S. court (I tried). In other words, Congress can spend thousands of hours drafting detailed laws granting carefully limited power to governmental bodies and agencies, but if Congress does not also grant ordinary citizens the right to challenge the government’s violation of those laws, the government is free to break the law and usurp unlimited power with complete impunity.

They call it immunity. I call it insanity.

I know this because I recently brought a case in federal district court against the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for clear violations of the Federal Reserve Act, which created and empowers the Fed. My arguments were compelling and supported by evidence from the Fed’s own database. However, my complaint was dismissed – not because it was ungrounded or incorrect but because Congress did not grant me (or you) the right to complain in court.

This was my good-faith attempt to see for myself if America is really a nation resting on law or merely on raw power. And I did learn something.

Wrong remedies

Groucho Marx has been credited with saying: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” Certainly our state government’s ongoing actions have validated this definition.

Need new lake

Reading about Australia’s drought finally being over caused thoughts of our situation.

Yes, our drought is gone for now and with it likely all thoughts of any impetus to do anything about “real” additional water supplies. Yes, the Equus Beds recharge project is ongoing, but it is a boondoggle that at best pushes a salt plume back. And if you think of the Ogallala Aquifer as a bowl of water, we are pouring water in one side and someone else is pulling it out the other. Not a good plan.

Or how about the plan to reuse treated sewer water? Now that sounds appealing. It may be safe, but the yuck factor is hard to get by.

The Walnut River flooded Kansas cities last month and filled the Kaw and Keystone lakes downstream. There was easily enough water flowing down the Walnut to fill another lake if it were built between El Dorado Reservoir and Kaw Lake. Why aren’t we building one as a new water supply lake on the Walnut and capturing that floodwater for Wichita to drink?

El Dorado water isn’t all spoken for, but there isn’t an overabundance available either. We simply need a new lake. Why isn’t there political vision to see that? Do we have to wait until Cheney Reservoir is dried up before we have that vision?

Put in retail

Concerning the property at 47th Street South and I-135 (“Retailers show little interest in Southfork,” June 6 Business Today): Don’t make it an industrial site. Put in Golden Corral, Hancock Fabrics, Big Lots or some other retail business for the residents in south Wichita and Haysville, so that we don’t have to travel so far. Start thinking of the people in this part of town. We like to eat and shop at nice places, too.

Now, about the Wichita River Festival: The cost of the buttons, at $10, is stupid. People on low fixed incomes can’t afford it. Also, it would be nice to have more country music and music for the older group of people, and not so much rock and rap crap. The music is just drawing more of the young crowd, which draws more troublemakers. Stop selling beer at the festival, too. Keep the drunks away from people trying to have fun.

Dog no monster

I would hope that people who call for the banning of a dog breed would learn more about it before spouting off their lack of knowledge about the pit bull. The Staffordshire terrier and the related breeds they are touting as monsters for attacking mail carriers are no different from other breeds.

It is not the dog that has terrorized the person; it is the owner who has neglected or abused the dog into this reaction. And the mailman who shows fear to a barking dog protecting his territory doesn’t help his own safety – whether from a pit bull, Chihuahua or wiener dog.

The Staffordshire terrier was the original “babysitter” dog in the late part of the 1800s and early 1900s. These dogs played with children and watched over the babies that families let play outside or on their porches. They were beloved pets and part of the families, even showing up in the family portraits. Only when military units around the world and criminals began to train them to be attack dogs did we see their reputations change.

As a dog handler, I can tell you that I would take a Staffordshire terrier over some of the yappy ankle-biting dogs any day. We don’t stroke our egos with these dogs. We stroke the dogs and love them as they love us.

This story was originally published June 15, 2015 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Letters on government power, wrong legislative remedies, new lake, River Festival, pit bulls."