I'm not a scientist and I didn't have any input for the report given on the disastrous calamity, here in Kansas, we can expect from foot and mouth disease. Yes, that disease is bad and can cause terrific damage to the livestock industry and society in general. But the hyperbole of running out of ammunition and huge burial ditches serves only one purpose. It scares the uninformed public and allows ridiculous laws and restrictions to be put in place. I said, I'm not a scientist, but, I am a farmer and have had livestock.The livestock industry is greatly benefited from research that studies livestock diseases. I'm much more interested in finding safe and reliable institutions for that research than I am in supporting false hype. Kansas State University is quite capable of providing expertise and safety for research.

Home built bomb shelters and stockpiles of food in the cellars was promoted in the late '50s and early '60s is an example of hype run amuck. Some 40 years later my rural trash route was hauling hundreds of pounds of that food to the landfill. Young adults of the '50s were cleaning out in preparation for moving to town and retirement. That wasted food helped the retail outlets with a temporary boost in sales volume. But, it tied up family resources that could have benefited the family and the economy over the next 50 years. I'm not aware of any bomb shelters being built, but if they were they have had benefit for a safe haven from an approaching tornado.

The terrorist threat, today, is an example of hyperbole and hype. It is politically motivated. Yes, we need to be vigilant and our security system needs to keep up with technology, but I think I'm in more danger of injury from many more things or events than I am of a terrorist attack. I live in a remote area, but I'm sure the dwellers in our cities face threats every day that are more apt to strike them than a terrorist. We had a rash of aircraft hijackings a few years back. But all the losses of both life and material didn't approach the risk of death and loss in other modes of transportation. And, incidentally, that rash of hijackings subsided, but other risks have not subsided, to any degree. Street violence and drive by shootings are a much greater risk than a politically motivated terrorist attack.

Now, let's look at government funding. How do we use the funds and who do we extract those funds from?

Education is the best deterrent to crime. Education prepares one to work to provide for one's own needs. Education exposes us to fine arts that enhance our ability to enjoy life. Public education teaches us to find socially acceptable standards to regulate society for all, in spite of the diversity in that society. Religious education should concentrate on spiritual aspects of man in relation to their acknowledgement of a higher power than mortal man and how that relates to our responsibilities as mortals. Let's don't mix public funding with religious funding. We need to fund public education with public funds! That doesn't mean we should short change all other government services. Neither does it mean we should just throw money into the system.

Sales tax is not the fairest tax, as some would have you to believe. The graduated income tax is the most equitable form of taxes we have.

If you will stop and think about it a little bit, civilization is based on sharing resources with the society of people around you. Civilization begins to deteriorate as wealth and it's power is concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. Sales tax actually helps concentrate wealth, in that it uses a much higher proportion of the available resources of the lower income population than the higher income people. Sales tax is not an equitable source of government funds for providing needed services that promote and enhance civilization.