Kansas City Star: Opinion

Sotomayor's confirmation would be further progress

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

I became involved in the civil rights movement more than 40 years ago when it was easy to identify the “enemy.” It was George Wallace and people who thought and acted like him. As time progressed, we have made great strides, or at least I would like to believe we have.

Keeping well-trained teachers in urban schools

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s School of Education is addressing the current Pre-K-12 urban public education crisis in the Kansas City area through its Institute for Urban Education. To date, the institute is far surpassing initial expectations. Since 2005, the institute has partnered with the Kansas City, Kansas City, Kan. and Hickman Mills school districts to provide trained educators to teach in the partners’ schools.

Barry Road bicycle lane truly is a turn for the worst

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

Alaska has its “bridge to nowhere.” Kansas City has its own “bicycle lane to nowhere.”

Pull the plug on failed stimulus

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

Repealing bailouts, stimulus spending and Soviet-like takeovers of private industries will happen only when the people decide they no longer believe the president’s costly, unattainable promises.

Younger drinking age could help reduce the number of binge incidents

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:15 CDT

In March, Jason Wren, a 19-year-old KU student, died of alcohol poisoning, according to the autopsy report. Wren died after reportedly drinking several pitchers of margaritas and later beer and whiskey. The untimely demise of Wren re-awakens a national debate in this area that began in earnest over a year ago with the Amethyst Initiative.

Deaths of music greats truly are big stories

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

My 22-year-old daughter, Leslie, sent me a text message from Omaha, calling Michael Jackson’s death on June 25 the story of the century worldwide. I pooh-poohed her at the time.

Kevin Siers / The Charlotte Observer (July 10, 2009)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:28 CDT

Lee Judge / The Kansas City Star (July 10, 2009) For more cartoons.

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:28 CDT

Jim Morin / Miami Herald (July 10, 2009)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:36 CDT

Jim Morin / Miami Herald (July 9, 2009)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:34 CDT

Lee Judge / The Kansas City Star (July 9, 2009) For more cartoons.

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:34 CDT

Too much fame, no real childhood did Jackson in

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

The sad tale of Michael Jackson will be retold a few thousand times more as autopsy reports and estate details emerge. Meanwhile, the presumed verdict is that Jackson died of prescription drugs. On CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” Thursday, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, said that Jackson’s death was a wake-up call to the country about prescription drugs.

Pro-Con | Do we need a second stimulus?

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

The Oracle of Omaha says another stimulus package looks like the way to go. “I think that a second one may well be called for,” Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told “Good Morning America.” But, he added, “you hope it doesn’t get watered down in many ways.”

Obama curiously rigid at all the wrong times

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

President Barack Obama has a persona that seems made for politics. He’s fluid, even-tempered, good-humored — the very picture of a balanced personality. But he also has an inflexible streak. It’s becoming more apparent as his term progresses, and it could lead to his undoing.

Crises of confidence are painful to see and feel

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

It’s probably dangerous to admit to a moment of empathy. I’ll get either disqualified from ever becoming being a Supreme Court justice or asked to turn in my press card. But after watching reruns of Sarah Palin’s resignation from the governorship, after hearing every grammatically challenged sentence and inconsistent paragraph dissected by some talk show host, I started to (blush) feel her pain.

Well-intentioned efforts are useless if we don't use less

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

By HEIDI MOYER
PBS recently showed a television special on Easter Island that explained how the inhabitants systematically cut down every tree on the island. They needed the trees to transport ever larger stone figures that were monuments to their leaders. By using up the trees, they were unable to build canoes to fish the surrounding waters and feed their people.

McNamara's passing warns against hubris, certainty

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

The death of Robert McNamara at 93 was less a faint reverberation of a receding era than a reminder that mentalities are the defining attributes of eras, and certain American mentalities recur with metronomic regularity. McNamara came to Washington from a robust Detroit — he headed Ford when America’s swaggering automobile manufacturers enjoyed 90 percent market share — to be President John Kennedy’s secretary of defense. Seemingly confident that managing the competition of nations could be as orderly as managing competition among the three participants in Detroit’s oligopoly, McNamara entered government seven months before the birth of the current president, who is the owner and, he is serenely sure, fixer of General Motors. Today, something unsettlingly similar to McNamara’s eerie assuredness pervades Washington.The spirit is: Have confidence, everybody, because we soon will have everything under control.

Broken health-care system needs some mending

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

It was a good Fourth of July last Saturday — no Republicans or Democrats, just a crowd of sunburned people sitting on the grass. A brass band played amid the smell of hot dogs, and Clarence and Ralph, two World War II vets, described their European tour of 1944-45 from Normandy through the Hurtgen Forest. And it was duly noted that the Revolution was not going well in the summer of 1776 when Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Hancock put their names to the Declaration of Independence, an act of treason and great bravado. Then the crowd stood and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and discovered that, in the key of G, it is a fine piece of music and very singable. And people know the words. It’s interesting about the national anthem: Nobody really wants to sing it, and if there’s a soloist we won’t, but if someone asks us to sing and gives us a note and a downbeat we jump to our feet and sing and once we’re into it, we love it. It is powerful and moving and when we hold the note on “free” and the sopranos wail, it’s opera.

Michael Jackson, Medal of Honor recipients, and the Culture of our Nation

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:48 CDT

by Grant Martin, Midwest Voices guest Columnist 2009 In Andrew Bacevich’s book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, the author posits that after World War II, instead of becoming a true example of “the city on the hill”, the U.S. instead started to chase over-consumption: the worship of “more”. read more

Cheney's ugly secrets revealed

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:22 CDT

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist Former Vice President Dick Cheney's penchant for keeping secrets may permanently damage his legacy as a patriotic American. Reports this weekend said Cheney had ordered CIA officials to keep a counter-terrorism program secret from Congress, in probable violation of the law. read more

Deaths of Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley were huge stories

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:00 CDT

By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist My 22-year-old daughter, Leslie, sent me a text message from Omaha, calling Michael Jackson’s death on June 25 the story of the century worldwide. I pooh-poohed her at the time. The closest thing to it for me was the death of Elvis Presley on Aug. 16, 1977. read more

Supreme Court needs Sotomayor's pragmatism

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:00 CDT

By Michael Bates, Special to The Kansas City Star I became involved in the civil rights movement more than 40 years ago when it was easy to identify the “enemy.” It was George Wallace and people who thought and acted like him. As time progressed, we have made great strides, or at least I would like to believe we have. read more

We must have government-run option for better health care

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:00 CDT

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board To work for Americans, our nation’s health care delivery must become more fair, efficient and transparent. Across the political spectrum, there is wide agreement about these goals. Getting there is a different story. read more

KC, what a town!

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:30 CDT

I had the opportunity to visit Kansas City over the recent Independence Day weekend. I feel the need to comment on the warm reception that I received from the friendly people of the city. Being formerly from Chicago and currently...

Support Sen. Kit Bond

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:30 CDT

A recent writer (7/3, Letters) took great effort and little wisdom to excoriate Sen. Kit Bond’s position on the war in Iraq. The key words cited were the missing weapons of mass destruction, rendition, torture, and so on. Bond’s position...

Karen McCarthy

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:30 CDT

Steve Kraske wrote a very nice article on Karen McCarthy (7/5, “Trailblazing career was no bed of roses”). The last general election, McCarthy spent the day outside the Unitarian Church across the street for Kemper Museum, answering questions about the...

Plan to age better

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:30 CDT

We were delighted that issues of aging warranted Ellen Goodman’s attention (7/5, Opinion). Kansas City is already engaging a host of folks in these issues well beyond taking the car keys away from an elderly loved one. We are designing...

Put Christianity first

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:30 CDT

A review of the language in our 50 state constitutions reveals that all make reference to God in one way or another. Forty specifically state “God,” and the remaining 10 use phrases such as supreme ruler of the universe, supreme...

Health care reform will require sacrifices across the board

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

To work for Americans, our nation’s health care delivery must become more fair, efficient and transparent. Across the political spectrum, there is wide agreement about these goals.

Access for all to affordable health care

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:15 CDT

The faults of the U.S. health care system are well documented. We spend more of our collective income on medical bills than any country on earth, but we are less healthy than citizens of many other nations. Less talked about is the positive impact of comprehensive health care reform.