Opinion Line Extra (Jan. 7)

So Sen. Pat Roberts takes a weekend trip to Iraq, at our expense, and decides that morale is good among our troops. “I’m more optimistic than I was,” he said. If our troops were allowed to say how they really feel, it would be a totally different story.

Someone please explain to Rep. Mike Pompeo that ending the embargo of Cuba will benefit Kansas farmers and ranchers with wheat and beef exports. His love of outsourcing our jobs to China is obviously more important than helping his own constituents.

Whoa, people – we are invited over to visit the Cubans “at their house.” Act like you have done this before and you might get invited back.

Read my lips – no new (or old) Clinton.

Are there enough ignorant people in this country to elect Jeb Bush? There were enough to elect Obama twice.

I feel sorry for the Koreans, especially the North. For more than 100 years they have truly gotten the shaft. First the Japanese, then the communists. Reunification would be a great boon for the world.

There seems to be a war on children.

The word “respect” appeared again in Opinion Line. Once again, the contributor seems to think the concept is owed. Respect is something that is earned. I might add, a lot of our governing people are quickly losing any respect I may have had for them.

Why do some people think we Americans should hold our heads down in shame for our treatment of terrorists who torture and kill us and plot evil? Do they think they are morally superior? At the same time the police are bashed for trying to do their job.

Why is it we don’t hear from the anti-gun nuts about the fact that far more people are killed every year in this country in house fires or after being hit by vehicles?

Recent arena stories were curiously dispassionate. The Eagle editorial board led the propaganda campaign for a new arena, saying it would frequently show big-name acts and spur economic development downtown, both of which haven’t materialized.

The toilet paper tubes have been discontinued as we know them. One manufacturer did away with them to keep them from loading up our landfills, but all the rest are making them a larger diameter to save a few sheets of paper. How weird is that?

The two best Christmas presents I received this year were incredibly beautiful smiles – one given by a fireman leaving the east YMCA and the other from a young Asian patron at a local coffeehouse.

This story was originally published January 6, 2015 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Opinion Line Extra (Jan. 7)."