Speak Out 03/08/04

School funding

I AM glad to read that Peter Kinder and Rebecca McDowell Cook agree that the state's expenditure on education is close to $2.5 billion. Kinder, however, seems to miss the fact that the $2.5 billion is the issue, not the total budget from other sources. Is $2.5 billion from the state an adequate contribution? The Kinder/Hanaway principle tells us that Missouri should grab federal and other money and use it to reduce state spending on its own children. Why not develop a decent state funding level and use other sources to supplement it, particularly when the money from the other sources is designated for specific items and is not open to allocation decisions by the state or by schools? Why does Kinder feel it is necessary to cloud the issue of real state spending behind a screen of other revenue sources with designated and unalterable uses?

Problem children

THE STUDENT from Oran who was taped to his desk should not be attending public school. Teachers today have enough behavioral problems with children who have been given a license to misbehave by being diagnosed with a behavior disorder. With the tremendous obstacles teachers face today, it is a miracle that anyone would want to be a teacher. The parents of the child with behavior problems should attend school with him and make him behave himself instead of pushing the responsibility off on someone else.

Need the same rights

IF WE were given the rights we deserve as hard-working, taxpaying American citizens, there would be no reason to amend the U.S. Constitution concerning marriage between and man and a woman. We deserve the benefits that go with marriage. I would be very happy with that. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by pushing marriage. If the media would stay silent about this for a while, gays getting married would go virtually unnoticed. You would never know the difference.

Parents: Fix it

I APPLAUD the teacher who had to resign from her position in Oran, even if she did go too far. Too many parents today are letting their children get away with poor behavior just because they have been diagnosed with a condition. A learning or behavioral disorder is not a crutch to lean on for your entire life. Parents should be helping their children learn to cope and function in everyday society. Who's going to be around to make excuses when these children are adults? Teachers are blamed for everything today. It's time parents fix the problem instead of contributing to it.

It's our right

VFW COMMANDER Rodger Brown seems to have forgotten for what our veterans fought. Surely it was for freedom. And doesn't that freedom include the right to oppose a president who sends our troops to fight and die in an unjustified war?

Motorists aren't stopping

WHEN DID stop signs become yield signs? Everywhere I go people are running stop signs. Maybe one of the state troopers could take a break from cruising the back roads and watch what's happening.

Keeping discipline

I SUPPORT the teachers who discipline children in school -- even putting tape over their mouths. How in the world are teachers supposed to teach and children learn with kids who won't shut up? Parents and other relatives who defend those kids are why there is such a disciplinary problem in the first place.

Comparing apples

IN HIS response to Rebecca McDowell Cook's letter, Peter Kinder continues to mislead people regarding educational appropriations in Missouri by including other sources of revenue than state appropriations. Apparently, he likes comparing apples and oranges. Cook's letter focused on a common denominator for comparison: the legislature's allocation of state funds for education. Kinder was also misleading when he referred to Gov. Bob Holden as her mentor. As Kinder well knows, the late Gov. Mel Carnahan was her mentor during her years in office.

Comparing salaries

WHY SHOULDN'T the teachers complain if the superintendent makes an big salary and gets raises bigger than they get? Teachers have to pay the same for a loaf of bread as the superintendent. Teachers are in direct contact with students. Teachers are the foundation of our schools. So I don't think it's fair for the superintendent to get a big raise and the school board's too tight to give teachers what they're worth.

Intelligent spark

THE THEORY of evolution is impossible to prove or disprove because it cannot be duplicated or replicated in the laboratory. The intelligence behind the function of an orderly universe is impossible to dispute. And look at the functions and structure of the complexity of the human body. It's also a result of intelligent design. The law of gravity and the law of thermodynamics also are an indication of intelligent design. Intelligent design is the only way to go.

Lose the perks too

YOU CAN'T blame the unions for jobs going overseas, because computer jobs are going overseas, and most of them are not unionized. Jim Hightower of the Hightower Report and Phillip Frazier say it best: As corporations separate their fortunes from the well-being of our families and communities, we should separate them from the tax breaks, subsidies, regulatory favors and political privileges they've gotten from us. It's time we say no to more jobs going overseas.

Waste of money

THE EXPLORATION on Mars and hints of future renewed efforts are a waste of money. All we're doing is spending billions of dollars for a few people's egos. I think that is a terrible thing to put on the taxpayers. This money could be spent much better somewhere else.

Time for support

WHATEVER HAPPENED to "united we stand"? If other nations would have backed President Bush, maybe Saddam Hussein would have cooperated and there would not have been a war. Since we did go to war, we should back our president and our troops. All these people saying we should get out of Iraq gives terrorists a reason to believe they could win. Give our troops time to get a good government started in Iraq. Those terrorists have to be stopped somehow.

Bring them home

I CAN'T believe people want to put American soldiers in harm's way. This is a Bush war. We should be getting our kids back home. The 9-11 terrorism doesn't compare to the cost and the lives of the American people as well as the innocent people of Iraq who want to go on with their lives too.

It's state money

THANKS TO Rebecca McDowell Cook for exposing the spin of politicians who would have you believe they use state money appropriately and fully support public school funding. The attempt to cover up the purchase of a 61-inch plasma screen TV for a Senate committee room is typical. It may not have been tax money, but it was state money.

Taxpayers' money

IN HIS Feb. 28 letter, Missouri Senate administrator Michael Keathley jumped in to defend the $20,000 television set. He wrote no tax dollars were used in this purchase. As Rebecca McDowell Cook points out, all the items he says were sold were the property of Missouri's taxpayers. Thank to Cook for reminding Keathley the money used to purchase the television belonged to the people of Missouri.

Thanks for stripes

I WANT to say thank you for the restriping of the lanes on Mount Auburn Road so quickly.

Good outweighs the bad

I'M READING the article in the paper about the risk of taking estrogen. It talks about the harm estrogen does after menopause. If this is so damaging after menopause, how does a woman survive pre-menopause when she's producing the same chemicals herself? Something is a little mixed up, and somebody needs to explain this. The numbers I've seen as far as those who have any added likelihood of detrimental effects because of estrogen is so small that it's ridiculous because of the good it can do.

Hype over nothing

SCIENTISTS SAY the findings on Mars and the evidence of sulfates and other minerals including salt prove there was water on Mars. How do any of these so-called scientists know that the same laws we have here on Earth apply to something as far away as Mars? It may be totally different. This is a lot of hype over nothing in my opinion.

The way it was

"THE PASSION" does not blast any non-Christian religion. It is about the way the producer thought the crucifixion actually was. Over the years, the passion has been dressed up with no blood or scars. This movie tells us what Jesus really went through to die for the sins of everyone.

Appreciative crowds

I CAN'T believe that people actually want to discontinue the municipal band. I'm no musician, and I do not go to the concerts, but when I drive down there and see the people enjoying themselves every Wednesday night, I think it would be a shame to cut this back or eliminate it.