Speak out 10/11/02

WELL I just finished my weekly ritual of digging through a perfectly good garbage can to combine all my weekly bags of garbage into different bags to put out on the curb. I'd just like to say thank you to the city of Jackson for having me have to do this. I'd much rather do this than pay a few dollars a month to have my garbage picked up.

The place to be

LIVING ON Bordeau Drive is a great place to be. I have an angel who just bought me a large bowl of homemade soup on this chilly October evening. I just wish everyone had a good neighbor. The world would be so much better. I want to thank her and hope others reach out to their neighbors too. God bless you.

Help my friend

I HAVE a friend that's a quadriplegic and he can't seem to get any help in this area from anybody. The government agencies in this area can't help him financially for the things he needs like a bathroom and an elevator in his house. If anybody knows where he can some help, put it in here and I'll catch it and call you to see what we can do for him.

Saddam not afraid

IT SEEMS to me that the threat of war has not frightened Saddam Hussein in the least. After all, he did say that if we bomb Iraq or have war against Iraq, that he will fight the United States with every weapon available to him. So it seems to me that he just might wind up dropping an atomic bomb on this country.

Writer missed point

JOHN C. Bierk, who wrote a guest column for the Southeast Missourian on Oct. 8, has completely missed the point. Mr. Bierk defends liberal college professors but he does not understand that if a student expresses conservative views in the classroom, he or she is given lower grades. For example, if a student says that he is pro-life, he is denounced as a religious zealot. If a student says that he or she does not believe in homosexual marriages, then that student is denounced as a homophobe. If a student is opposed to affirmative action on economic grounds, then that student is called a racist. It is very difficult for a student to express conservative views, even if those views are backed up by logic, facts and statistics and still get a good grade. I know this because I was a political science student at Southeast during the 1980s. Every professor save one was very liberal.

Charge Iraq's leader

SADDAM HUSSEIN has gassed his own people, has attacked his neighboring Muslim country of Kuwait without any reason and then set fire to 100 of its oil wells. He has lied to the United Nations 16 times in 11 years and ran the United Nations inspectors out of Iraq. Why doesn't our administration have the world court charge him with war crimes? Would someone in authority tell me why this has not been done years, years ago?

Comparing terrorists

JERRY FALWELL stated that, in his opinion, "Mohammed was a terrorist." That's like having a Muslim say that Jesus was evil because he read in some book that Jesus would send some people to hell.

Bonior's war record

I COULD hardly believe my ears when I heard the comments by the Democratic congressmen who were visiting Iraq. David Bonior, the highest ranking Democrat in the House after Dick Gephardt, gave misleading statements about his military service during Vietnam. He says he knows war and implied he served in-country. His Web site says he "slung hash" during the Vietnam conflict. It is one thing to be a dove on war; it is another to mislead people into thinking you are an expert. Shame on him.

Blame day traders

THE STOCK market is still on a roller coaster. Much of this roller coaster effect is created by day traders. They buy and sell the same day to make whatever money they can. This creates the up and down we see, about like a yo-yo. They are the creators and perpetuators of it.

WHY DO we need weapons inspectors in Iraq? We already know that Saddam Hussein has biological and chemical agents. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush gave them to him to fight Iran.

He's back

TRUE-BLUE conservatives, take heart. Pat Buchanan is back. His new magazine, "American Conservative," offers many reasons why real conservatives should be opposed to the coming war against Iraq, take on the internationalist New World Order and be economic nationalists in nature. Buchanan and his brigades bemoan what they say is a sellout on the part of onetime conservatives to Wall Street, multinational corporations, right-wing religious extremists, survival-of-the-fittest capitalists and their many minions who mirror their philosophy in the media.

I'M TIRED of hearing people fuss about St. Louis getting what they perceive as more of the share of money for roads. They have more population. If you have more population, that makes sense that you're going to get more money. Many of us utilize St. Louis anyway. If we want to go to the zoo, if we want to go to museums, if we want to go to Six Flags, we're there. I don't really notice the roads as being as bad as some of the callers harp on and complain about. As far as I'm concerned, there's enough money for everyone. If you've ever been to St. Louis, the roads are continuously being worked on because the traffic is so great in that area. You know, let's face it, country roads don't have near as much traffic. Stop your bellyaching and find something else to do.

Appraise it

THIS CONCERNS the $250,000 that the county decided to pay to buy the small home and two acres that the Cape County Park superintendent currently reside in. Why don't you spend a few more hundred dollars, get some outside independent appraisers and we'll see if their appraisal matches up with the in-house appraisal you did of that property.

We're different

I WAS appalled to read recently a caller's criticism of American protesters by saying they wouldn't have been tolerated in Nazi Germany or communist China. We're supposed to be different from those countries. That's the whole point. In this country, many protesters oppose government policies while supporting our country. They oppose policies which they are damaging to the country. In Democratic Britain, they are called the loyal opposition. Many Americans appear not to be politically sophisticated enough to understand that concept.