Commentary

Wed
05
Sep

McCain was my hero

Norman Anderson
Others Say

I grew up in a place where everyone went to war. Our models were fighter pilots. Our fathers and their friends all fought in World War II and Korea, fighting for our country, keeping everyone safe, and risking their lives to do it. Some were shot down, and everyone shot down was tortured.

These were serious men — trained, motivated men of purpose and self-confidence. Men like John McCain, Jerry Denton, Jim Stockdale and Everett Alvarez. They told us what we knew of who men were, and how you behaved when things went right and, even more important, how you behaved when things went wrong.

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Wed
29
Aug

Wildfires product of change

Jill Richardson
Others Say

Right now, much of the west is affected by wildfires.

An unlucky minority will have to evacuate their homes, and some will lose their homes altogether — or even their lives. But for millions more across the west, “smoke season” is a real thing.

Vast swaths of the west can be covered in smoke for extended periods, and inhaling the fine particles in the smoke is deleterious to one’s health.

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Wed
29
Aug

Sweet success of farming

John Schlageck
Insight

Just as the sun rises each morning, Kansas farmers and ranchers begin each day dedicated to providing food and providing the best for their families. Simultaneously, and with each new generation, non-farm folks become further and further removed from the farm.

It’s easy to understand why so many people in our state, and this country, understand less and less about agriculture and where their food comes from. Most have forgotten, or may have never known, that individual farmers and ranchers supply the necessary food for their diets.

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Wed
22
Aug

Register and Vote!

By Jerry Marsh

I hesitated to submit this opinion for publication out of concern that it would have opposite the intended effect. I submitted it because the risk of not speaking out is greater. The risk I allude to is the election of Kris Kobach as Governor of Kansas.

Kansas endured six years of fiscal mismanagement thanks to former Gov. Sam Brownback. Given Mr. Kobach’s own pronouncements regarding fiscal policy, one may fairly expect more egregious mismanagement from a Kobach administration. Kansas voters in the past two elections let legislators know they preferred a more responsible fiscal policy and the legislators responded. If voters elect Mr. Kobach governor, they will signal their desire to reverse the hard won fiscal gains of the past four years and a GOP legislature will likely comply.

 

Wed
22
Aug

Leaving Civilization

By "The Cowboy" Jim Gray

Terror reigned across frontier Kansas after the shocking July 1868 raids through north-central Kansas by Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux warriors.

The Aug. 21, 1868, edition of the Emporia News reported that 200 families had fled the Saline, Solomon, and Republican valleys north of Fort Harker. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s command, the Department of the Missouri, extending all the way to the foothills of the Colorado Rockies, was unexpectedly paralyzed by fear.

 

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Wed
08
Aug

Amazon’s hidden cost

By Katie Parker

The billions in tax breaks larger cities are offering Amazon to host its “HQ2,” Amazon’s bare-knuckled push to squash a business tax in Seattle, and recent strikes for better working conditions in Amazon facilities have all fueled a growing conversation about the retail behemoth’s toll on communities.

But one element of Amazon’s business strategy has fallen under the radar, and this one could really bite where you live: its bid to dominate local government purchasing.

 

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Wed
08
Aug

Inevitable misfortune

By "The Cowboy" Jim Gray

As the 1868 spring turned to summer everyone on the plains held their breath wondering if peace with the Cheyenne was going to hold.

When the conference for peace had been held at Medicine Lodge the previous fall, the Cheyenne were the last to sign.

Who could blame them?

Of all the plains tribes the Cheyenne had been singled out by Colorado troops for retribution by means of a particularly brutal attack on a peaceful village in 1864. The Sand Creek Massacre was still fresh in their minds.

 

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Wed
01
Aug

Cowboys and Roundups

By "The Cowboy" Jim Gray
THE WAY WEST

The article “Cowboys and Roundups” was originally published in an 1882 edition of Youth’s Companion. The publication was a children’s magazine that ran from 1827 to 1929.

Once it hit its stride, a typical issue of Youth’s Companion included “outdoor adventure stories, historical articles, anecdotes, contests, travel articles, and editorials”.

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Wed
01
Aug

The missionary mentality

David Norlin
Others Say

Two stories in the June 30 Salina Journal feature Gov. Jeff Colyer and Congressman Roger Marshall, both Republicans, in “Good Samaritan” mode.

The Colyer story recounts the governor, while campaigning, ordering his driver to stop the car as it went by an accident scene. There Colyer gave a heatexhausted truck-trailer driver a bottle of water, then took him to the trooper’s car to sit in airconditioning.

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Wed
25
Jul

The staff of life

John Schlageck
Others Say

While the 2018 wheat harvest remains fresh in the minds of Kansans, it’s worth remembering civilization has been directly linked to the cultivation of grain.

When primitive man first learned he could grow wheat during the summer, store it for winter food and use the leftover wheat to plant in the spring, he realized he could settle in one place.

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