Kansas Catholic Conference Questionnaire and Comments:
Would you support, endorse, vote for, or co-sponsor the following legislation connected with each of the following statements.

EDUCATION

Question 1. Tax credits to parents to help offset their children's K-12 education costs, including parents of children attending religiously oriented schools. YES

Question 2. Provide education vouchers to low-income parents to help pay for the cost of their children's K-12 education at the school of their choice, including religiously oriented schools. YES

Question 3. Require the Federal Government to honor its original commitment to fund special education in the states at a 40% level, rather than the level funded currently. YES

Question 3 comment. I understand and support the need for special education. However, I am opposed to the strings that come attached with Federal Government assistance. I will work to restore the committed funding but will also try to eliminate the attached strings.

FOOD & AGRICULTURAL POLICY

Question 4. Ban or significantly reduce ownership of livestock by the largest packers. NO

Question 4 comment. I don't understand why the question is being asked. Private property/ownership is a tenet of the Constitution of this country. Are your concerns feedlots and hog farms? If so then know there is a solution.

ENVIRONMENT

Question 5. Promote the new Conservation Securities Program to help farmers reduce non-point pollution. YES

RESPECT FOR LIFE

Question 6. Constitutional amendment, which would protect the right to life of unborn children (Human Life Amendment.) YES

Question 7. Prohibit the use of taxpayer funds for abortion. YES

Question 8. Total ban on partial birth abortion. YES

Question 9. Ban human cloning which would include cloning for either "reproductive" or "therapeutic" purposes. YES

Question 9 comment. I am opposed to human cloning but should science come up with a way to clone just a liver or a heart or a kidney I would support that. If that violates the tenets of the Catholic Church I would like someone to explain it to me.

Question 10. Rights of conscience protection for health care providers who object to participating in controversial procedures such as abortion, sterilization, artificial birth control, etc. YES

Question 10. Yes, but. This is an extremely dangerous proposal. If such a piece of legislation were passed there could be dire consequences. Unless the legislation is very well written a doctor or nurse could say that their conscience would not permit them to work on black folk, or fat folk, or smokers, and so on. I have yet to see a piece of legislation that didn't have loopholes you could drive a tank through. I would prefer a simple statement by a health care provider of their position on controversial procedures. Agreed, this will do nothing to help those who face termination from their current employers. The courts will decide their fate.

Question 11. Repeal the death penalty. YES

Question 12. Place a moratorium on the death penalty while a special commission studies the issue. YES

ECONOMIC HELP FOR FAMILIES

Question 13. Increase resources for affordable, quality childcare since the Welfare Reform Reauthorization requires increased work requirements by parents under this program. NO

Question 13 comment. I am opposed to Welfare. I am not opposed to quality childcare. I am opposed to government childcare. Is there a way that the Catholic Church and others could set up childcare programs? I believe that a Catholic mother or father would prefer to leave their children in the care of the Church rather than the government. I realize there are not enough priest and nuns to do this but there are plenty of lay people who might help. Could Federal funds be used to support such an endeavor?

Question 14. Expand the children's health insurance program to cover uninsured working parents. NO

Question 14 comment. Whatever happened to charity and caring? It has been taken away by the government. If a family or child is in need you help. You don't go whining to the government. The government is only too glad to assist because then they can attach strings that control you. You're getting sucked in.

Question 15. Increase the federal government's financial participation for the Medicaid program. NO

Question 15 comment. Medicaid monies from the federal government have been systematically reduced over the past several years because of legislation signed into law. Unfortunately the States did not respond with innovative ways to offset their burdens. Well, that's not exactly true they did extort 400 and some odd billion from the tobacco companies. The current trend is to extort money from the food industry.

Ask yourself one simple question. If Welfare and all of its subsets are supposed to help the needy then why does the amount of money required keep growing? If the goal was to help then the need should have declined. The need keeps growing because Welfare has driven the costs up so that more need help. The more dependent you are on the government the less freedom you have. What are we up to now, 6 trillion dollars spent on welfare? Face it, it doesn't work. Poverty has not been reduced. It has not saved a single soul. What good is it? Yep, I'm an ogre.