Speak Out 03/04/04

Diverting attention

IN RANTING and raving against gay marriage, David Limbaugh is in lockstep with the Bush administration's efforts to divert attention away from exporting American jobs overseas while likely failing to export a lasting constitution and fully representative democracy for Iraq.

Quick savings

HOW MUCH money has Cape Girardeau wasted in the last 90 years of funding the municipal band? I always thought this was a privately funded thing. Pull the plug on the $25,000 given to them and demand a refund of the $40,000 the city spent on that stupid slogan. There you have a quick $65,000 to add to the budget. I also agree with the person who thought "Dream City on the River" was a good slogan. Is anybody listening?

No benefits, no tax?

SINCE SOCIAL Security won't be around when I am old enough to draw it, can I have the government stop taking the Social Security tax out of my pay?

Transforming Iraq

IRAQ IS open to democracy, as a Speak Out caller claimed, at least for a while. What the leading cleric wants for the time being is a full-fledged democracy with no protection for minority rights or what should be the rights of women. This will allow the newly elected religious leaders to quickly transform Iraq from a democracy into a religious, repressive dictatorship. Back to square one.

Let band raise funds

THE CAPE Girardeau City Council must be nuts to spend so much time considering spending $25,000 on the municipal band. Cut this out of the budget and don't look back. Let the band members raise the money themselves. Most of the adults participating in this frivolity have more money than the majority of Cape residents anyway. Let them make a few donations or have fund-raising projects.

Concerts aren't missed

I THINK spending $25,000 a year on the municipal band is very foolish. If a band is so important for the residents of Cape Girardeau, then the participants should play for free. Also, the band members and interested parties could raise their own money by raffles, car washes and holding dinners. Also, the audience could be charged a modest fee to hear this music. By the way, I am 50 years old, have never been to one of these band concerts and don't feel I have missed a thing.

Divining the meaning

FOR CRASS political-religious purposes, David Limbaugh grants poetic license to Mel Gibson for "The Passion" that he would never grant to artists who do not fit with Limbaugh's radical, fundamentalist, Christian world view. "The Passion" is an ultra-violent, anti-Semitic polemic masking as an expression of pious and pure Christianity. We don't need Limbaugh to explain the meaning of this or any other movie. We have minds of our own.

Don't allow hate

WE DO not need hate to be written into the Missouri Constitution. There is no reason why we should not allow two loving, committed people to enter into a civil marriage or union. This would not hurt the institution as many conservatives have argued. In fact, this would only strengthen the relationships and the institution of marriage by allowing more committed, loving people to enter into these state-validated relationships. Urge your representatives in Jefferson City to not support this attempt to write hate into the Missouri Constitution.

Wriggling and twisting

I CANNOT wait for clues of life on Mars to be discovered. Watching the creationists wriggle and twist concepts of our universe so a discovery of that magnitude will still conform to their narrow-minded views will be very amusing.

Theory or fact

DO PEOPLE honestly take the Bible as literal truth over hard science? I don't know what textbooks people are talking about, but none I have ever read claim people come from rocks or some soup. If you seriously think that the Big Bang theory or the concept of a 13-billion-year-old universe has no basis in fact but the Bible does, I feel very sorry for you. Get out and do the research instead of debasing fact with fictional statements.

Not enough room

WHEN IS Cape Girardeau going to get a bigger convention center or expand the Show Me Center? We are getting cheated out of a lot due to the small size. Not every vendor that wants to be at the home show will be there because there isn't enough room, and there is a waiting list. I am getting cheated out of new ideas. I guess I can go to St. Louis' shows.

Get the real story

AS A Christian, I have been disappointed in the past by Hollywood's lame attempts to mutilate the Bible into film. I looked forward to seeing Mel Gibson's new movie because I had heard that it was an accurate portrayal of Scripture. Sadly, this is not true. It is not really the biblical story of Christ's passion. It is a portrayal of the Roman Catholic stations of the cross which includes many non-biblical elements. I wish the movie's advertising would have practiced truth in packaging. Gibson's movie is somewhat heretical even by Roman Catholic standards. It leads people to the false conclusion that Jesus was forced into being crucified. If there is one thing that Jesus made completely clear, it was that he was not a victim. He was a volunteer. He freely chose to go to the cross and could have escaped if he had chosen to do so. Perhaps some day someone really will tell the greatest story ever told in movie form. I doubt it will ever happen. The Gospel of Christ is something that needs to be proclaimed, not filmed.

A fine debate

THE OPINION page's Cook-Kinder controversy over differences of opinion concerning state appropriations for Missouri public education is heating up. So far, Rebecca McDowell Cook is carrying the factual argument, but Peter Kinder is sizzling with the spin. To date, it's a draw. Stay tuned.

Not much eye appeal

I WAS astounded to see the latest addition on one of the main thoroughfares in Jackson, where the billboards proclaim it the city of "beautiful homes, churches and schools." Those new utility poles on East Main Street are an absolute atrocity. Maybe the city planners found the placement of these poles in the front yards of many homes to be acceptable since most of the homes affected are duplexes and rental housing. Maybe they were also thinking that this route is OK since it does not come close to more upscale homes. If anyone gives a hoot about what East Main will look like to visitors who will enter Jackson down this road, these utility poles should have been given more consideration.

No need for fear

IT IS absurd to assume that allowing concealed weapons in vehicles somehow puts police officers at a greater risk of being shot. The type of person who would shoot a police officer is already carrying a gun illegally. Law-abiding citizens who will carry a handgun for self-protection are not going to shoot police officers. Police officers and law-abiding citizens share the same enemy: violent criminals who ignore all gun laws.

Police coverage

I WAS out on Saturday night and was terrified to drive. There were so many intoxicated drivers out and no law enforcement around. Where are the cops? They were all concentrated in one spot downtown. It does not make sense to me. The officers should be patrolling all areas of the town.