Speak Out 10/06/01

Off-campus parking

I AM replying to the comment about the college kids parking on New Madrid and in Capaha Park. If the campus had enough parking for even half the students, that wouldn't be a problem.

Herd mentality

I AGREE that international terrorism needs to be rooted out and that we must have the will to do so. However, I certainly don't think the best way to approach this daunting task is to take the advice of David Limbaugh and become mindless minions and robotic followers of the cult of Bush. It blows my mind that the onetime fiercely independent-minded Limbaugh has apparently become the maestro of a get-on-the-bandwagon herd mentality.

Same old song

The SOUTHEAST Missourian's remedy for stimulating an economy during wartime is to cut taxes. During peacetime the Southeast Missourian routinely suggests the best way to stop a sluggish economy or to increase economic growth and prosperity during good times is to cut taxes. Are you starting to get the picture? I think it can safely be said that the Southeast Missourian will continue to advocate tax cutting in all scenarios even if or until you know what freezes over.

Important programs

I THINK it is a shame Perryville students are going to lose a lot of great programs because the voters can't stand a few more cents of tax. Don't they want their children to have the best education possible? All of these programs are part of an education, whether it be intellectual, social or the discipline you learn in sports.

Cold War rhetoric

THE CALLER who stated Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China and Russia all have atom bombs and could turn on us at any moment needs to fast forward about 50 years. I'm pretty sure atom bombs have gone by the wayside in favor of missiles, and of the five countries stated only Russia has the ability to reach American soil. Stop scaring people with old Cold War rhetoric and look at the positives.

Maybe it's time

IRASCIBLE AND intelligent rascal Dick Morris, often invoked on the Southeast Missourian's Opinion page, has said President Bush will be done in by the same forces as his father: ineptness in dealing with a sagging economy and incrementalism in foreign policy. As to the latter, Morris says coalition building is unnecessary and that the United States should be willing to go it alone, attack countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Columbia, overthrow their terrorist or terrorist-coddling regimes and install popular governments. Nation building may be anathema to many, particularly conservative Republicans, but this could be an idea whose time has come, like it or not.

And then what?

THOSE WHO consistently cackle in Speak Out about the need for national unity have a good point. We do need to be united in the war against terrorism. It should be easy. The war appeals to our idealistic impulse to rid the world of evil. It is also realistically sound to be rid of the likes of Osama bin Laden. But say we topple the Taliban or give Saddam Hussein the heave ho. What then?

Former assets

OTHER THAN the obvious, what do Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein have in common with Osama bin Laden? At one time they were all considered CIA assets.

More on smokers

THANK YOU to the person who commented that she'd like to hose down smokers with her pee-pee. I think this would be a fitting way to extinguish their cigarettes. Why is it smokers can't go a little farther away from the door. They seem to stand there right at the door and force everyone to breath their foul odor as you walk into a smoke-free business. As for the businesses that still allow smoking, it's a shame the law in California prohibiting smoking in public places isn't a nationwide law.

Skirting the policy

IF YOU are worried about SEMO and its policies on living in the dorms or with parents, there is a way around that. What SEMO doesn't know won't hurt it. Before I met the "junior standing" requirement, I was living off campus in my own apartment paid for with the wages of my part-time job. I had no desire to live in the cramped quarters that are provided on campus. As far as SEMO knew I was still living with my parents and commuting over an hour each way. When I finally did reach "junior standing," I changed my address with the university. SEMO likes to think it is always in control and knows what's best for every student. This is just a bad assumption on its part, but it won't change.

Consult the psychics

WITH SO many psychics available and advertising on TV, how come none of them foresaw the recent terrorist attacks? I don't see any of them telling us what the next move will be on the part of the terrorists nor where Osama bin Laden can be found. If these psychics are really able to tell the future, why are they not advising our nation's leaders. That would be the patriotic thing to do.

God is with us

ONE SPEAK Out caller asked, "How can God be pro-life and bless America and allow the terrorist attacks?" You need not look any further than President Bush for this answer. He said evil did this. He also said that in the struggle of good and evil, God does not wait in between. God is with us. He never left us. And he will be with us as we fight the terrorists. He will be the reason we defeat them.

Looking inward

I WOULD like to respond to the Speak Out called "Confusion about God." Who are we to question God? As it says in Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." It also says in the Bible that we are bought with a price. We are not our own. So God can do what he wants with us because we are his. If he feels that it is more important for someone to come home to heaven, then he has every right as our father to do so. God is all about free agency. We are a blessed nation. We must remember that in the Bible God would allow afflictions to the house of Israel when they were being disobedient. We should ask ourselves: Are we being as obedient as God would want us to be? I'm not condoning what happened Sept. 11, but I think we need to look inward and then look outward. I think we have done a great job of supporting one another, but a week prior to Sept. 11 would you have been so nice to one another? I think not.