To the editor:

There must be a sign above the entrance to the legislators’ chamber in Topeka that reads: “Please check your spine and half your brain at the door.”

A penny-per-teaspoon tax on sugar in soft drinks is a really good idea. It would be a good idea even if the state were not facing a budgetary crisis, given the fact that obesity and sugar diabetes is also plaguing our state. If a 12-ounce can of pop will cost 10 cents more under the plan, then that means the bottler is adding 10 teaspoons of sugar (most of which is produced offshore). Just thinking about that will make your teeth decay. It’s hard to say which would be better: that the tax would produce revenue to help cover the projected shortfall or that Kansans would consume a lot less sugar.

Come on, Kansas, where is the outrage? These people in Topeka should be working for us, not every special interest group that can afford a lobbyist.