Speak Out 1/14/11

For sale

ILLINOIS has 118 state representatives and 59 state senators that are no longer needed and can be purchased for a song. They are no longer necessary because the entire state of Illinois is being run by only three individuals. The three are Governor Quinn, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.

Funeral honor

I want to thank all the Patriot Guard riders I saw at the airport exit Saturday afternoon on my way to the Harley shop. It was quite a sight to see the many men and women braving the frigid cold to honor the fallen soldier they were escorting. Thanks, too, to the highway patrol for stopping traffic north on Interstate 55 to allow the procession to take this soldier to his final resting place with honor.

Hatemongering

THIS tragedy in Tucson is the direct product of all the hate mongering that so vastly pervades our various media in society. The best way to mute this venom is to cease patronizing it.

Strange occurrences

HAVE animals, birds, fish or bees died in mass before? Sure. But if you look at those events, they were singular freak occurrences, not a long list of daily mass deaths.

Prayer needed

PLEASE pray for our young men. I have watched two young men in the last two months get two young ladies pregnant. They have tried to take on the responsibilities of a father, and the women completely took control and cut them out of the lives of their children.

School uniforms

WHY is Scott City always trying to be like Notre Dame? If you want your children to wear uniforms, then send them to that school and quit complaining.

Dress code

FINALLY, the Scott City school dress committee is on to something. The outfits the volleyball team wear are very offensive and embarrassing to the whole school.

Funeral protests

THE church and its congregation that are protesting at the military funerals are a work of the devil. No one has the right to interfere in the lives of people and make bad memories for them for a lifetime.

Rotating schedule?

This response is directed to those of you who suffered the first leaf pickup of the season. To put this matter in perspective, you need to know that in the past the city has always made the first leaf pickup in the older section of town which has large, mature trees. Thus, because our home is in this area, my household has had to pay for leaf removal for the last 25 years or so because the city's removal was always too early. In the spirit of fairness, I asked the city to rotate the pickup schedule each year so that the burden of the first removal would not always fall to the same area. As the city has not announced why the schedule was changed this year and what future plans are to be, I do not know if there will be a rotation, but I hope that this is the case.

Social Security response

Social Security is very much needed. And if at 89 years old you don't need it, then give it to the needy. I am sure you won't want to give up what you get. Cut the politicians' salaries, but don't knock Social Security. Our president vacations nearly every holiday. Do we get to do that? No. But we pay for it.

Health care problem

I sat in my doctor's office today and overheard a couple talking about how they would handle the bills after surgery since they don't have insurance. The gentleman said to his wife, we'll just file for bankruptcy after all treatments are done. For those against Obamacare, remember the states are spending millions on the uninsured, causing an increase in taxes and higher health care costs. We are all required to have insurance on our cars. It should be the same for health care.