Opinion Line (Feb. 15)

I just got the shock of my life: My own brother, a lifelong staunch conservative, told me he supports Donald Trump. I would rather he had told me he was addicted to heroin.

If only Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce leaders could spend one hour with President Obama. He could give them ideas for the kind of job growth he has accomplished for the rest of the country.

Obama lauds himself for the job creation during his presidency. But it hasn’t been nearly enough. Adding 300,000 new jobs a month employs only new workforce entrants. It doesn’t re-employ idle workers, yielding painfully low workforce participation rates.

All the entrepreneurial spirit in the world doesn’t make a difference if the venture capitalists aren’t willing to invest. Wichita needs a “Shark Tank,” not a million cups of coffee.

Only in Kansas: The state GOP passes an unconstitutional school funding plan and then gets mad when the state Supreme Court rules it is unconstitutional. And we are stupid enough to re-elect Republicans every time. Bottom line: The Koch-funded GOP does not care about public education.

Apparently the school funding formula, which the court referred to and the Legislature dumped, was too complicated. It must have required adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. If the legislators were all college graduates, it might not have been so difficult.

I believe a constitutional amendment is in order to remove the ambiguous language that is causing all the problems. Who gets to define “fair” and “adequate” school funding?

Rep. Mark Hutton’s purple is showing with his complaints about KU financing for new buildings (Feb. 11 Opinion). No mention of the financing and the creative bidding process for WSU’s Innovation Campus? Our representatives’ focus should be the budget deficit and ending the session on time.

KU used some sleight of hand to get the money it needed, but I understand why. Public universities are tired of channeling Oliver Twist with his “Please, sir, I want some more.” KU officials didn’t go to Hutton because they knew he’d say “no.”

Why do entertainers like Beyonce always have to make a statement? Why can’t they just perform? As if they could, without all the backup noise.

I have always thought that Beyonce was little more than a marginally talented cartoon character pop star. I was only partially right. She has now moved into the creepy, crazy territory.

Remember when we were told cable TV would reduce the number of commercials? How’s that working for you all?

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Opinion Line (Feb. 15)."