Speak Out 09/16/04

First to complain

I NOTICED the comment from someone who said he wasn't going to be voting in this election. I bet he'll be the first one to start complaining about the way the election turned out though.

Restroom a good idea

I DIDN'T know needing to use the bathroom classified you as a pervert. If it does, then everyone is guilty. Putting a restroom in Arena Park is a great idea. It is a major inconvenience not having one there.

Those other terrorists

A RECENT comment suggested that all terrorists are Muslim. What a short memory. Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist member of a white supremacist militia. Let's kill all white supremacist militia members. What about the Irish Republican Army? Let's kill all Irish Catholics just to be safe. And didn't someone in the Bush administration recently say that the National Education Association is a terrorist organization? Better kill all teachers to thwart any more radicals.

Government responsibility

THE GOVERNMENT'S role in our lives should be to provide an overwhelmingly powerful military and to build our infrastructure. It is not the government's responsibility to provide drugs to seniors, aid to foreign nations that cannot stand us or to pay lazy citizens who will not work. Those things should come from our families and churches.

Dangerous labels

THE DIFFICULTY with killing off all the terrorists as recently suggested in Speak Out is that the term "terrorist," like "beauty," can be in the eye of the beholder. One man's terrorist might be another man's freedom fighter. If you were or are from the South, the efforts of the Confederacy may look more like a fight for independence than a rebellion. If you were British in the mid-1700s the American struggle for independence may have looked more like terrorism. The labels that stick are those dispensed by the victor whose status is imparted by might and the willingness to apply systematic violence, not by virtue of righteousness. Such labeling is also a technique employed by governments to cast out those in disagreement them. Be ever mindful that we are all being manipulated all the time.

Changing for a reason

THOUGH A derogatory term, flip-flopping demonstrates a willingness to change one's mind in the light of new information and should be viewed as a political strength.

Try compassion

VIOLENCE ONLY begets more violence. War and killing will never bring peace. If a peaceful world is the goal, let's employ compassion on our friends and enemies.

More air connections

THE CVB should use the surplus to bring additional airlines to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Direct service to Memphis would really be convenient.

Retirement plans

I AM in my early 60s. Soon my husband and I will be able to enjoy our retirement. We are not from the Cape Girardeau area, but we think the medical community there is top-notch. We are excited about renewed talk of a lake in the Cape area. We would enjoy spending our senior years in a community around a lake and would be at ease knowing we are close to great doctors. We could stay close to our grandchildren and enjoy watching them grow up. This kind of a community is great for families.

Responsible for pets

I THINK as long as you have your pets spayed and neutered and do not allow your pets to tear up your home, you should be allowed to have as many pets as you want on your property.

Blowing up half a span

I WAS reading in your paper about how the engineers were left guessing about the domino effect of the bridge crashing down. The story says the plan was to only demolish span 1. There is no span 1 or span 2. Those sections are one continuous span. They were blowing up half a span. The rest of it could not survive. The lower beams didn't fail. When they blew up the part closest to the Missouri side, they broke the back of that whole span. That's what caused it to fail. The bridge did not fail.

No police buddy

I AM raising my child to respect his elders. My child does not need a police officer as a friend. My child needs to look at the police as people who will protect us if we need it and arrest the bad guys. We don't need someone who teaches how to work a PlayStation or play a loud stereo in that overpriced DARE car. Do the police honestly think that trying to be buddies with these children makes good sense?