Posted on Sat, May. 03, 2008

‘Extreme’ weather coverage

Thursday night’s severe weather report in Kansas City was yet another example of “extreme” weather forecasting. The weather forecasters in this city have taken it upon themselves to scare the living daylights out of our citizens every time a thunderstorm or dusting of snow comes through (and yet can never manage to get it right).

I do not want to minimize some of the damage around Kansas City, and I am glad there were no serious injuries, but let’s be honest: Most of the city experienced little or no damage as a result of the storm.

Folks, we live in the Midwest here. What do we expect? I believe that for the most part Kansas City residents are smart, well-educated people. If you cannot understand the signs of a green sky and a dangerous storm cloud heading your way, then you are living in the wrong part of the country. We do not need the weather forecasters scaring us into the basement with two hours of coverage saying, “Well, something could happen.”

Macaela Stephenson

Kansas City

Kansas coal-fired plants

I am proud of our Kansas senators and representatives who rejected the proposed coal-fired plants that would produce electricity for Colorado. Colorado already rejected these plants because they do not want their citizens exposed to the pollution.

At election time we will remember who listened to the will of the majority of Kansans who oppose the plant and those who submitted to the will of big money.

I hope our Missouri friends will remember to vote against the legislators who are supporting the Aquila power plant that was built illegally.

Dan Conyers

Kansas City, Kan.

Why coal? The coal for the Holcomb plant would come from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Coal from this region would be delivered to the Holcomb plant at a cost of $1.25 per million Btu vs. $8.50 per million Btu for natural gas, which would be used as an alternative if the coal facility isn’t built.

Why not wind? Sunflower already owns 100 megawatts of wind capacity, including one farm in Gray County, Kan. The Gray County facility is in one of the windiest areas of the country, but it has averaged only a 35 percent capacity factor during its five-year lifetime. During 65 percent of the year, and particularly during the hottest days when electricity is needed the most, Sunflower must still rely on other generators because the wind simply isn’t blowing. You can’t add wind capacity without also adding reliable backup generators.

The average person doesn’t realize that without coal generators your electricity bill would be more than double what it is today. We all want to be green, but just how much are you willing to pay for it?

If man is influencing global warming, why are the carbon dioxide ice caps on Mars shrinking?

Gary Groninger

Olathe

The high cost of driving

Back in the 1950s, my husband and I had three small children and not much money. On Sunday afternoons we would go for a drive, and that was our weekend entertainment.

Before we went back home we would pull into a gas station. A young man would run out and ask if he could fill it up and my husband would say, “Give me a couple of dollars worth of regular.” The young man would wipe the windshield and headlights, offer to check the oil and the air in the tires.

The other day I went to the station, took a $20 bill in to prepay, and went out and pumped my own gas. My gauge showed three-quarters of a tank.

How times change!

Leora Werner

Overland Park

In the April 27 Star Magazine, the article on Behzod Abduraimov, a 17-year-old pianist from Uzbekistan studying at Park University, mentions that his late father, a physicist, “invented a car that ran on oxygen.”

With gasoline at $3.50 per gallon, shouldn’t we follow up on that?

Art Winter

Raytown

A sure-fire way to reduce your gasoline expense is to slow down. Drive 55 mph or less and save lots of money.

Tom Johns

Raymore

Giving up on Chiefs

I am 58 years old. I have been a Chiefs fan since the beginning, until now. I own a little bar in Marysville, Kan. I have now taken down all my Chiefs items in the bar. You do not trade the best defensive end in football for untested picks, especially third-round picks.

As long as Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards are running this show, I will not go to any more Chiefs games. I used to go to at least one every year. I will not support this team and the way it is run.

As Comedian Ron White has said, “You can’t fix stupid.”

Joe Cohorst

Marysville, Kan.

Halls’ gift to William Jewell

I was delighted to read that the Hall Family Foundation will continue to provide financial support for William Jewell College (4/29, Local, “William Jewell College to get $6.5 million”).

Because of a generous scholarship from the Hall Foundation, I received a top-notch education from William Jewell and even studied abroad in Oxford, England. I was given a strong academic background and taught to lead and serve.

The Hall folks know that Kansas City is fortunate to have one of the region’s best liberal arts colleges, and we are fortunate to have both of these fine organizations in our city.

Anthony F. Shop

Kansas City

Laws don’t stop criminals

As much as I sympathize with Kathy Cagg and the families of the victims of the Ward Parkway shootings, I couldn’t help but notice some inaccurate statements in Cagg’s As I See It column (4/29, Opinion, “This ‘freedom’ has a heavy cost”).

In carrying out his vicious act, David Logsdon did not take advantage of numerous freedoms, as Kathy Cagg writes. Instead, David Logsdon broke numerous laws, such as carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and purchasing ammunition with a stolen credit card. Last I checked, these sorts of acts are not freedoms. They are criminal violations — violations that someone intent on killing other human beings isn’t likely to concern himself with.

The emotional reasoning behind calling for more restrictions on gun freedoms in the wake of shootings such as the one at Ward Parkway is understandable, but it couldn’t be more futile in the fight against gun violence.

Criminals are criminals because they break laws, not because they take advantage of freedoms.

Michael Keizer

Independence

Pre-emption policy

Roger Merryfield (4/26, Opinion, “Let’s undertake a debate on pre-emption now”) suggests that the question of pre-emption should be debated and decided now, during the quiet of the campaign. This would indeed be a great idea, if whatever decisions were reached would carry after the election.

Three conditions would have to prevail, though, for this program to be morally valid. 1. The debate must take place only between purely honest people (no hidden agendas). 2. Presidential discretion and signing statements could not later subvert the adopted rules. 3. The safety and welfare of the people on both sides must be the deciding factor, not oil, revenge or world domination and power.

Chances are if all of those conditions were met, there would never be pre-emption. And sorrowfully, I see few in our government capable of participating in this discussion anyway.

Paul Rola

Kansas City

Roger Merryfield’s call for a pre-election debate on “pre-emption” is fatuous for many reasons.

Wars fought by hegemonic powers are rarely, if ever, pre-emptive in the proper sense of the term. At best, they are preventive, fought to forestall something that might happen in the future.

We do not need to debate the logic or morality of a policy of preventive war, which is clearly illegal by any interpretation of international law. In reality, the situation is far worse. The superpower advances arguments for initiating military action that mask the real reasons for the aggression. Years (and countless deaths) later, the truth is occasionally admitted.

Such wars clearly fall under the definition of “aggressive war” laid out by the Nuremberg tribunal. The architects of these wars should properly be in the dock; not planning further military adventures.

The United States should conduct its foreign policy as a republic, not an empire. We have much work to do.

Alan Kent

Kansas City

Stop the violence

I write this letter with a broken heart. A few weeks ago, a young man lost his life over a vehicle and a set of wheels (3/27, Local, “Errand put man in path of killer; Graduate student and investment company worker had stopped to clean out his vehicle and stranger fired on him”). This young man had worked hard to achieve his goals.

This violence must stop now. Are you doing your part? Are you willing to stand up and speak up when you see problems in front of you? Now is the time to do just that. We must make people accountable for their actions.

Don’t sit back and ignore what is happening to your world. Speak up for a better tomorrow.

Don Beashore

Kansas City, Kan.

Global hunger crisis

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the USDA’s food program, says “poor farmers will not be able to afford fertilizer and diesel” because of high energy prices (4/15, A-6, “Global hunger crisis deepens”). She correctly sees the connection between biofuel and food shortages. But in that thinking also lies the assumption that fossil-based diesel and fertilizers would help us to overcome the crisis.

How safe is a food production based on nonrenewable energy? What happens when these are getting scarcer? We have to honestly tell the world that basing agriculture on these two pillars not only destroys soil and farms, but has also raised totally unrealistic expectations on how many people the Earth can sustainably feed in the long run.

The U.S. agricultural system has proved to be ruinous for the land. Pollution, degradation of the soil, high erosion, health problems for man and beast are just a few of the consequences.

We need to find ways to produce food in harmony with nature all around the globe. That is the organic way.

By the way, my wife and I farm organically with draft horses and provide more than 90 families with vegetables and eggs.

Klaus Karbaumer

Platte City

Getting to know Obama

Several weeks ago, some of the media declared they really “didn’t know very much” about Barack Obama.

Surprise, surprise!

Be careful what you wish for.

Betty May Locke

Gardner

Earth Day every day

John Askew’s article (4/23, Opinion: “How to Make Earth Day Every Day”) really made me think. I agree that Earth Day is a day when almost everyone does his or her part to help the environment. People make conscious efforts to recycle cans, throw away trash and even plant trees.

However, many people who do these things on Earth Day do not do them every day. We need to take things a step further by incorporating these actions into our everyday lives. We need to protect the Earth we live on and keep the air we breathe fresh.

There are so many things that we can do to help the Earth. We can use organic cleaning products, use cloth napkins instead of paper ones and reuse water bottles. We can carpool or ride bikes, and we can use lunch boxes instead of paper sacks.

Doing these things every day will make all the difference.

Rachel Schwartz

Leawood

Powerful Phill Kline

Phill Kline is the most dangerous kind of zealot: a zealot with power.

Jamie Troutz

Overland Park

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