LETTERS 07/03/08

Robert K. Miller

Kansas City

As one who was impressed by Barack Obama’s show of strength when faced with the Clinton machine, I was disappointed to see him open the final stretch of this political season by being the first to inject racism into the campaign during a recent speech in Jacksonville, Fla.

While the Clintons brought up racism earlier this year, John McCain has refused to do so, and its injection by Sen. Obama is a poor opening and a bad omen for someone we know so little about.

We will have to examine his record, his opinions and those he surrounds himself with much more closely. There seems to be more emotionalism than sound judgment by many of those so excited by Obama’s campaign.

Charley Morasch

Leawood

Stu Tarlow (6/26, Opinion, “Plaza protester disrespects flag”) passed by a rally at the Plaza in which folks protested George Bush and Dick Cheney’s war by asking for impeachment. Immediately, Tarlow sees the flag in scorn and suggests that “probably” the folks there disregard dead soldiers. I was there at age 70.

The piece is a shameful mess to pontificate about flag etiquette, which wearies me. The way to honor the flag is to stand with courage preserving what the flag means. One honors the flag in damning a war built upon lies, even if formal etiquette about touching the nation’s soil is offended.

As for soldiers, my own uncle died at age 26 upon the beaches of Normandy. He volunteered because a president like Franklin Roosevelt drew him there with one means: the simple truth. That honors the flag, and wins a hand over my heart. Without that, the flag is only a piece of cloth that is now despised by most of the civilized world because of Cheney and his puppet, Bush.

Scruples over frilly “etiquette” never replace the flag’s real inspiration: the call to protest any abuse of liberty.

James V. McCormick

Kansas City

Yes, go ahead and drill in our costal waters and Alaska.

Yes, we (who are alive now) can use all the coal, oil, water and gas, which are all finite. What about long-term use? These short-term fixes are just that: short term. We must have a huge change of mindset to start conserving our resources.

A recent trip to Denver going 60 mph saved us half a tank of gas over our usual 70 mph.

Bruce Rogers

Kansas City

I felt compelled to write after reading “Key energy issues charge up presidential debate” (6/29, Opinion). Both John McCain and Barack Obama “agree to ... more federal funding for research in renewable energy, especially wind power.”

It would seem to me that the taxpaying public would be best served by implementation instead of endless government-funded studies. Take the “billions of tax dollars” flushed down the toilet trying to find safe nuclear storage, and the millions upon millions spent on research for renewables.

Instead, we could actually erect wind turbines and construct solar engine facilities. The technology is feasible right now.

It defies logic that we sit around complaining about oil prices crashing our economy when the solutions are right before us. But then again, we are talking about the federal government.

Chris Harper

Oak Grove

The taxpayers in the area of the Kansas City School District that is to go to Independence paid taxes to have the school buildings in their community built in the first place (6/28, Local, “Tug of war is not over; A restraining order could delay the transfer of seven school buildings”).