Speak Out 1/23/12

THANK you, President Obama, for saving capitalism from its excesses and getting the economy back on the right track, all in the face of entrenched opposition from those who wanted, and still want, you to fail, regardless of the consequences for our country.

JUST because something is legal it doesn't make it right. Slavery used to be legal. Using asbestos was legal. As an intelligent culture, we realized these things were just plain wrong. As we now have any multitude of facts at our fingertips, how can any intelligent person claim that the negative effects of secondhand smoke are hype? It is, without a doubt, a serious health hazard. Yes, the majority voted against a smoke ordinance in April, but the vote was very close, indicating many citizens realize the harm it is doing us, our children and our workers. What, if anything, is the Cape Girardeau City Council planning to do to address this health issue of grave concern to many of us?

I was reading an article in the Ladies' Home Journal and it said in there that people who drink diet soda have a 61 percent greater chance of having a stroke than people who smoke cigarettes.

THE real job creators are the scientists and engineers who design the products we buy and the workers who make them. It's not CEOs and MBAs who simply live off the efforts of others or the Wall Street bunch who live off fear and speculation.

I attended a high school that instituted uniforms at the beginning of my junior year. Cape Girardeau administrators are making promises and offering assurances that they cannot deliver on. My old school stuck to their agenda for more than eight years, and in that time not one of the issues they hoped to see improved actually improved. Instead it was quite the opposite. Uniforms did not cause the decline, of course. I do think, though, that had the district spent as much time on educational issues as they did on pushing through their agenda and then carrying it out, the situation might have been different. In the end, the uniforms were dropped when the next new cure-all came along. Sadly, I see the same thing here in Cape Girardeau.

I agree with the mayor about the need for a community survey. Any city needs to know how its citizens feel about a variety of issues. I am familiar with these surveys. But sometimes these surveys compare our city to others which aren't actually similar. And I don't understand why we go out of town to do this. Seems like a town that a major university ought to be able to use local resources to do the same job. Why can't someone at SEMO do the job?

Those who are opposed to controlling the deer population, thinking they are harmless, need to read the article in the St. Louis newspaper about the Ellisville, Mo., woman seriously injured on a parking lot by a deer.

THOUGH it has never been proven that a dress code in any way enhances student achievement, one that reflects middle class sensibilities in appearance will go a long way toward enhancing the reputation of a school with the taxpaying public.

SOMEONE wanted to know if we're going to allow billionaire George Soros to select our president again. I can't say for sure, but I would guess that we are, only because Soros has such a good track record in selecting presidents.

Jackson stoplights

I am confused why Jackson has put up stop lights at East Main Street and the Old Orchard Road intersection. The new street is still closed. Why do we need stop lights? Stop lights or a four-way stop is needed at Lacey and East Main street. This is where the heavy traffic is.

Mizzou coach

LAST year many Missouri basketball fans were in an uproar about the coach abandoning the team and becoming a Razorback. Now with a new approach to the game on both ends of the floor and an awesome record, I smile to myself and ask, "Mike who?"

I'D like to see the president take out the income tax and let everybody pay on what they buy. I think I'd like that better.

Pay property taxes

I, like Martin Luther King Jr., have a dream too, that certain people would get jobs and pay their personal property taxes on time.