Speak Out 01/06/03

To big a burden

DO YOU think a church could pay for a $300,000 surgery every time someone needs one? Could a church pay for all the inflated drug costs of all its seniors? We must have universal health care if we are to be a truly civilized nation. It's coming. It has to.

Basics, not fluff

BEFORE WE give our public schools any more money, school officials need to show us some concrete evidence that the money we have already given them is being used on education and not on fluff. Administrators need to get back to the basics and teach the children how to survive instead of how to be politically correct. Get rid of the fluff and teach the basics. We older folks had only the basics, and we turned out pretty good. Fluff is for fools and politicians.

Positive results

I BELIEVE if you have a positive attitude, stay out of everyone's business and think positive thoughts, you are more likely to have positive results. What do you think?

Class out of control

MY SON was having a problem in school, so I decided to visit his classrooms. I could not believe it. Two out of the three classes were an absolute joke. My son is a popular goof. I told him he had better stop goofing and buckle down. He has always said that the whole classroom goofs. I witnessed it. The teacher could not control this sixth-grade classroom. They were all disruptive. I was embarrassed for this class. I believe if the teacher can't control the classroom, the teacher has no business teaching. How can you teach when the class is running all over the teacher?

Charging for tape

I WENT recently to the post office with a box that needed to be taped up. I didn't seal it because I wanted to make sure it could be mailed. I asked the clerk if he could tape this up like they have for the last zillion years. He said the post office doesn't provide tape anymore, but he could sell me a roll of tape for $2. I was in panic, so I bought the tape, gave it back to the clerk and said, "Here is my donation to the post office. Please let the next person who needs tape use this." Our postage rates went up, and they can't afford tape?

Vigilant democracy

AMERICANS SHOULD never blindly trust their government or military. A democracy can only remain strong if citizens are vigilant and question their government and participate in the election process.

Lighter sentencing

MISSOURI IS trying to find more money. Why don't officials start with the prison population? We make our inmates serve 86 percent of their sentence, an average of seven years compared to the national average of 4.4 years. They should adopt an exception from the mandatory minimum sentencing for all first-time offenders.

Nutty piece

A WONK from the Cato Institute has called for a U.S. pullout from South Korea and added that if all of Southeast Asia goes nuclear, a balance of terror would prevent war. The fact that the Southeast Missourian reprinted this nutty piece tells me that you guys must miss the Cold War.