Speak Out 10/16/04

Sure to make mistakes

DEBATES ARE now fair play. Presidential debates are not fair to the man that's in office. Sure, it's easy to criticize someone else's mistakes and say "I would have done it this way or that." Let's see how many mistakes, if elected, that Mr. Kerry will make.

Quite an artist

I WANT to say Don Frazier's picture on the front page of the Missourian today is one of the prettiest pictures I have ever had the privilege to look at. He's quite an artist to be able to take that.

Bring prices down

SAUDI ARABIA, the biggest oil-producing country in the world, says there is no reason for the high gas prices. The only way we're going to beat this thing is for people to cut back and start carpooling to bring these prices down. We're being gouged by the big oil companies and refineries in this country.

Raises ratings

THIS IS in response to the use of volunteers on the Cape Girardeau Fire Department: You need to know something about the firefighting service. If you were familiar with this or educated about it, you would know that if you have volunteers, your ISO rating, which is your insurance rating , will continue to go up. A volunteer department causes insurance ratings to be higher.

Laying blame

HURRICANES AND attacks on America certainly do affect our economy but the Democrats try to blame the economic problems on our president. These Johns will concoct any lie they think will get them to the White House. They certainly are not the caliber of men to lead our country in our time of war.

Under one flag

IN DUE respect to the person who says you can't be a patriotic American if you also hang the Confederate flag: Like you've been told before, that war was not fought for slavery reasons. It was fought for states' rights reasons but it ended up being about slavery reasons. There were just as many Southerners killed or maybe more than there were Northerners killed. They gave their lives for what they thought was right. So you can respect and love your background, the Confederate flag, just as much as the American flag. They're both American flags, as far as I'm concerned.

Parents pay the way

IT IS unfortunate that a university professor spoke out about students taking responsibility for their own actions and that we as parents should cut the cord. In reality, which the majority of professors cannot fathom, our children come to us when they are unable to resolve issues. I have two going to the university and several problems persist throughout their experience with professors. You can bet as a concerned parent I'm going to have my say. What you apparently don't understand is parents are paying your salary.

Explain tax bills

THIS SUBJECT is on taxes. I'd like to know why Scott City and Chaffee, Mo., charge you twice for personal and real estate taxes. We have to pay them through the city and then we have to pay them through the county. This is not fair to have to pay the same taxes twice. If someone would just explain to us why. This doesn't make any sense at all. I mean, we're paying the same thing two times per year.

Flu prevention

THE NEWS and public today are making the flu vaccination shortage such a big deal. I don't understand why everybody is so worked up about it. The flu vaccination is a guess of what flu you're going to get. There are so many different types of the flu virus and different strains, so the vaccination you get doesn't necessarily prevent you from getting another strain. The best thing people can do is load up on their fluids, get plenty of rest, and take lots of vitamin C. Let the immune system do what it's supposed to do in the first place.

Listening to Libertarians

I HEARD the Libertarian candidate for president speak on the radio a couple of days ago and he made more sense than either one of our national candidates.