Speak Out 10/3/07

Huge disconnect

THANK YOU for publishing it. Syndicated columnist Amity Shales' Sept. 28 column convinced me more than ever that President George Bush is no conservative and that there is a huge disconnect between the current GOP and traditional conservatism.

Come to our senses

WE HAVE a $9 trillion national debt, a welfare state that is growing by the day and a foreign policy that is threatening America by bankrupting us and provoking hatred throughout the Middle East. It's time for us to come to our senses and realize that terrorists are using our presence in the Middle East as a recruiting tool for more terror. We need Ron Paul as president to make America safer, freer and more prosperous.

Nicotine addiction

TODAY'S QUESTION: How is marijuana addiction different from cigarette addiction? Cigarette addiction has been proven to be one of the most addictive of all drugs, stronger than even a cocaine addiction. That the nonsmoking hype has made so many people so demonstrative and nasty is a shame. Most smokers I know (myself included) would like to be able to quit. With counseling, nicotine patches and gum and anti-anxiety drugs to assist in quitting, the success rate after two years is still less than 20 percent. For those of us with this addiction of decades, the success rate is even less. Please, young people, never start smoking. For those with an addictive personality, it can take less than that one pack of cigarettes to cause addiction.

Include family

IT IS past time for hospitals to allow family members to be present during attempts to resuscitate patients if they so choose.

Smoking revenue

I PAY approximately $150 annually in Missouri tobacco taxes. Multiply that number times the estimated number of smokers in Missouri (27 percent, or 1,577,532). If Missouri smokers were all to quit, the loss of state cigarette taxes would be approximately $136.6 million. States which have raised tobacco taxes and states which have instituted no-smoking bans have begun seeing major reductions in their state incomes due to so many smokers quitting and cutting back on smoking. Like it or not, our reviled smokers are making a major contribution to our government's economy, one that would have to come from other sources if we could all quit smoking.

Smelly courthouse

WHY IS there such a difference between the cleanliness in the Common Pleas Courthouse and the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson? I have been in both recently, and the Cape Girardeau courthouse looks and smells as bad as a Greyhound bus station restroom.

Dogs in class

THERE'S NOTHING wrong with a dog in classrooms. In Europe, dogs accompany their owners to restaurants and shops. At least these college dogs aren't home in a crate or tied to a tree.

Pet discrimination

IF STUDENTS at Southeast Missouri State University are not allowed to have pets in the dorms, why are faculty and staff members allowed to bring their pets to work?

Blame tax subsidies

I SHARE the nostalgia for Cape Girardeau's one-time busy and beautiful Broadway. Sadly, it was sacrificed on a cross of tax subsidization for west end development.

Famous faces

HOW ABOUT Brad Pitt and Sheryl Crow on the Wall of Fame? They are certainly famous.

Better system

PARENTLINK is an anachronism and has seen its day as a way for parental computer accessing of grades. EdLine is on the cutting edge of providing educational progress access and a myriad of other features for students and parents alike.

Blame Rush

IT IS not too much of a stretch to say that Rush Limbaugh single-handedly brought the GOP to power in Congress in the mid-1990s. Neither is it going too far to say he that is virtually exclusively taking down even further the shrinking congressional GOP and any chance the party has of regaining control of the executive branch.

Reaching out

I'D LIKE to thank those Christians taking part in the "40 Days of Community." Your acts of kindness and servitude are a reminder of what we all should be doing to help one another. May God richly bless you for all that you did in reaching out to others.

Hospital bills

WHOEVER GOT one bill from a St. Louis hospital must have had an extremely good experience. I had one procedure done in a St. Louis hospital, and for the next six months I received bills.

Flaunting $100 bills

I'VE SEEN people in restaurants and grocery stores with big rolls of $100 bills, flaunting them and showing off. That is stupid. I was at the fair and saw a woman with a thick roll of $100 bills at the concession stand. She thought she was something else, having that much money. People who flaunt money around like that could get knocked in the head and robbed. That's asking for it.

Cut some expenses

HERE COMES another tax proposal on the ballot. The parks department wants more money. Any time anybody needs more money, they look to a new tax proposal. Why don't they look to cut something? And the first thing I would cut is hiring outside consultants for thousands of dollars to do the city council's job.

Facility priorities

THE JUNIOR high school parking lot is patchwork, and the boys' bathrooms have no doors on the stalls, the urinals are cracked and the toilet water bubbles up. The fountain and wash area have little water pressure. But let's make sure there are new bathrooms for parents to use at the soccer field at Central High School.