Opinion Line Extra (Aug. 26)

Employees who aren’t worth a new, higher minimum wage will lose their jobs. That’s the way the real world works.

Why are the taxpayers going to be responsible for high rollers’ failure to pay taxes they have owed for several years? Take over their properties and sell them. Time for the wealthy to pay their way.

I love it. The left-wing whiners are complaining about the right-wing radicals controlling things locally. I guess it’s not fair. Yet we’re supposed to accept your agenda at the national level for the past eight years. Get over it.

County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn said he wants to “get Sedgwick County out of the property tax dependence and move to a more stable and growing revenue source” (Aug. 16 Opinion). Such buffoonery seemed to work for Gov. Sam Brownback. Why not Peterjohn?

My grandfather said President Roosevelt’s New Deal “would be the ruination of our country.” I am starting to see the results.

Why is it that when Hillary Clinton is asked about her e-mail problem she diverts her eyes down when answering? What is her body language saying?

So Fidel Castro says the U.S. owes Cuba millions of dollars for damage caused by the sanctions. Somebody please tell me we’re not going to pay. Even if the payment were legitimate, why should we pay it? Nobody ever pays the U.S. what it’s owed.

I’d bet that if a mother dog were having pups and in danger of dying, there’d be lots of efforts to save her. Yet the right-wing Republicans would force a human mother to have a child at all costs, even her life. All to illustrate their supposed righteousness and piety.

Planned Parenthood does not equal health care. There are plenty of agencies that handle that load. Planned Parenthood equals abortion and should be deleted from all government financing.

How much money do we spend to convict and sentence illegal immigrants to federal state and local jails? How much for food, housing, clothing, medical and educational needs? What are the numbers? There are Americans who can do the jobs they do. Stop the endless excuses.

Snarky comments and specious reasoning aside, studies and reports from law enforcement agencies consistently have shown that where private gun ownership is high, violent crime is low. So, enough already.

It is not necessarily what or how much someone eats that can make them overweight. It can just as easily be that they are mindlessly shoving food in their mouth while their brain is attached to a cellphone, which can also lead to problems with their family.

“Hear, hear” to the Aug. 15 letter praising Chris Heim, KMUW Radio’s mega-talented, mellow-voiced, music aficionado.

This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Opinion Line Extra (Aug. 26)."