Speak Out 1/2/03

Making children happy

EVERYONE IS always complaining that there is nothing fun and wholesome for children and families to do together. NORAD made a Web site for this purpose. The site let children track Santa. The children got very giddy with this idea, and their parents surely enjoyed watching them light up. The taxpayer who complained should be happy to know that the site made some child's Christmas brighter, though I really doubt that much of our money was used.

Blue-haired tributes

QUIT WORRYING about it. Blue-haired youths are not troublemakers. They are merely paying well-deserved tributes to their grandmothers.

Trusting the military

THE WAR-MONGERING reprint from The Wall Street Journal was correct. College and university students do trust the military a lot. However, these young people experienced neither Vietnam nor the draft. Methinks that if we got into a military quagmire of some sort and the draft was reinstated, their view might change rapidly.

The lawyers' fees

JACK WAX of the Missouri Bar portrayed lawyers as altruistic, compassionate caregivers who spend long hours laboring at no charge on behalf of some clients. Indeed, this is true. Still, I would have had more sympathy for Wax's words had I not just finished reading John Grisham's, "The Summons." In it, a lawyer proudly proclaims himself to be the king of torts and complains about having to give his clients half of the settlements in multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuits. It made me think Wax was trying too hard.

Angel on the highway

I WAS traveling on Highway 34 heading toward Jackson when I was met head on by a line of six cars, two of which were passing the other four. The passing cars were in my lane headed right toward me. I had to come to a complete stop. Thank goodness the car behind me saw what was going on and did not rear-end me. Highway 34 is too dangerous a road to be passing other cars up and down those hills. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. There are a lot of crazy drivers on that road. If you must drive it, don't leave home without your guardian angel.

Potholes are repaired

I THOUGHT those bad potholes in front of Sears on the street that goes through Town Plaza would never be fixed. But they were. I have been complaining for almost a year. I thought no one cared. Thank you to whoever is responsible. The asphalt repair might not last very long, but at least it's an improvement. Now I and other drivers don't have to worry if someone is going to smack us in the rear-end after having to slow down and creep when turning onto that street.

Weather worries

TO THE person hoping the weather forecasters will do better on their next forecast: Don't hold your breath.

Public-school parents

THE PROBLEM with public schools isn't all the fault of the parents. Just because some parents are rich enough to send their children to private schools doesn't give them the right to run down public-school parents. Teachers may be leaving due to disrespect or misbehavior, but what about the teachers showing the students and parents respect? It's not all up to the parents. Private or public, teachers need to show respect and do their part in contacting the parents when needed. Public-school parents do care.

Misplaced priorities

FERTILITY DRUGS are one thing, but this cloning stuff is right out of a Frankenstein movie. It absolutely disgusts me. It makes me even madder to think that there are doctors and scientists who are intelligent enough to clone a human being, but there is still no cure for cancer.

Case of overkill

WE CAN only hope the idea for doubling Cape Girardeau County's sales tax was an inadvertent case of overkill. When the problem is a gnat, we don't need to use A-bombs.

IT IS always interesting to me when I read or hear about the disgust our Founding Fathers would feel concerning today's schools and their approach to Christian activities. The truth is our Founding Fathers emphatically embraced the separation of church and state.

Hypocritical critics

I WAS just wondering when the cries of outrage were going to start coming from Barbra Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Rosie O'Donnell and Martin Sheen since North Korea announced it was starting its nuclear reactor and kicked out the U.N. inspectors. If President Bush made such an announcement about the United States, they'd want his head on a silver platter. It's just another case of hypocrisy.

Painless wars

I DON'T know if we can handle a two-front war, one against Iraq and another against North Korea. North Korea made a deal with President Clinton, and Colin Powell paid tribute to the Clinton administration for having pulled it off. The North Koreans are testing Bush's mettle but will back off if we continue negotiating through back channels. Americans are no longer in the JFK "pay any price, bear any burden" frame of mind. We want our wars quick, easy and painless.

Liberal opinions

THIS IS a reply to the caller who informed everyone that hard-working, racist, homophobic conservatives are in the vast majority. I'd like to see figures to prove that. The caller asked why liberals are afraid to speak their mind because they want to be politically correct, no matter how offensive something may be. Some liberals don't feel inclined to speak about some of these subjects because they are not offensive to liberal beliefs. I am a liberal with strong beliefs, but I don't feel it's my place to judge people and force my opinions on them.