To the editor:

How very ironic to see the front page article about the Kansas election officials needing more information before “deciding whether to remove President Barack Obama from the state’s November ballot” in the same week we learned that Kansas University is removing the Western Civilization requirement from its criteria for graduation. It’s very Orwellian in nature to imagine an election without the incumbent listed — similar to the one-party ballots of the former Soviet Union, the “elections” in Cuba where President Castro was eager to point out that he “received 100 percent of the vote” or Iraq, where Saddam Hussein was elected unanimously. Also troubling is that the State Objections Board is “all Republican.”

Time spent on nonissues like the president’s citizenship is as ridiculous as the recent nonissue of preventing “voter fraud” in Kansas. These are not legitimate issues, only examples of bigotry and suppression. Needless to say, this provides plenty of fodder for the rest of the country (and the world) for referring to our state with ridicule and scorn. Things like this remind me of a satirical piece printed for April Fool’s Day or a script for a “Saturday Night Live” skit. Sadly, they are not.