Opinion Line Extra (Jan. 23)

I am much more concerned with someone talking or texting while driving than I am with someone driving stoned from smoking pot.

I’d like to know what has happened to all the neat little sculptures/symbols all over town. I like them – a joyful and whimsical sight to brighten every day when a new one shows up.

City Council: Put water, streets and only transit on a vote and you’ll get a three-quarter-cent sales tax. We don’t trust slush funds for businesses and good ol’ boy spending.

Build four coordinating state-of-the-art warehouses in Wichita with shipping capabilities. Exclusive companies would pay to guarantee the arrival of their product by the click of a mouse.

If Commissioner Richard Ranzau’s chairmanship turns the Sedgwick County Commission hard right, it’s only because the commission was so hard left before that his chairmanship actually brings the commission back toward the middle.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s State of the State address was a joke. Legislators were suckered by Brownback. They need to repeal all the tax cuts. His new budget is a regressive, destructive budget request for poor people, schools and roads. I hope the legislators come to their senses.

Kansas only had a quarter in its pocket when Brownback took over. He’s now driven us a billion dollars into the ditch. Now we know why his dad wouldn’t let him drive the combine.

I feel sorry for the people who will be stuck in Kansas and won’t be able to move out when our governor and legislators totally ruin our economic environment.

The president, in his annual address, must have momentarily forgotten how politics works. It takes money to get elected, and then politicians must vote accordingly. And who has the money? The rich have the money, and the poor are left holding the bag.

Instead of you and your child paying for two years of junior college with “free” tuition, you and your child will be paying the rest of your lives.

Obama’s Democrat voters see the headline “Obama to propose billions in tax increases” but read it as “Oh, boy, we’re going to get more giveaways.” This country can’t keep this going.

You voted for Barack Obama the first time so that he could repair America’s terrible world image that was caused by George W. Bush. How’s that world image working out for you now?

We are nothing as a nation unless we have the confidence that we will be free. Right now all are doubtful.

Wonders never cease. I have to agree with Leonard Pitts’ column “Pontiff wrong on limiting expression” (Jan. 19 Opinion). Francis may be infallible in matters of faith and morals. I get the feeling he is a bit of an intellectual lightweight on subjects such as free speech and climate change.

This story was originally published January 22, 2015 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Opinion Line Extra (Jan. 23)."