Speak Out 11/18/08

Humane treatment

WHEN TIMES are tough, we do what we can to survive. Unfortunately, some people think leaving their dogs and cats on country roads is helping. Perhaps they think someone will give them a home. Please understand that this is not the case. Usually, one of four things happens: 1. They starve. 2. They wander into some other dogs' territory and get mauled to death. 3. They get run over 4. They get shot. When you adopt a pet, this is your responsibility until death do you part. If you cannot provide for an animal, do not adopt. And if you made the mistake of adopting and find out you can't provide for the animal, take it to the humane society's animal shelter.

Wholesome theater

WHATEVER happened to entertainment? Instead of "thought-provoking" and "controversial," why can't the theater present good, wholesome entertainment? The theater today is used to promote political and immoral agendas. The use of profanity and sexual innuendo should not be allowed in a taxpayer-funded university program. It's not entertaining nor educational. What it amounts to is verbal pornography. Profanity is the effort of a feeble mind trying to express itself.

Pay-raise plan

THE CITY has chosen to give its employees a lump sum instead of a cost-of-living raise. This is the same thing Procter & Gamble did to its employees a year ago. On the surface this doesn't look like a bad idea for the employees, but if an employee has a few years to go in his career, he winds up losing thousands of dollars.

Tax bill goes up

I RECEIVED my real estate tax bill. Imagine my surprise when I found my taxes had gone up 10 percent over last year. If real estate taxes are supposed to be based on assessed valuation, and if the value of my home dropped 20 percent this year, should my tax bill have gone down, not up?

Senior reality

IN RESPONSE to the comment "No break for seniors": Obviously you are not a senior citizen living on Social Security, I am. Someday you will see just how wealthy we are. Who do you think supported this country with the taxes we paid all our working years? We senior citizens. Now, you begrudge us any kind of tax breaks. We get one check a month. No overtime, no bonuses. Sometimes it's a stretch to make that check last all month.

Political mess

ONE QUOTE from a reprinted essay in the December issue of Harper's says it all. "The collapse of America's financial system is a result of America's banks operating in a free-for-all environment that American legislators created. Republicans and Democrats both endorsed deregulation of financial markets that produced the crisis. It is America's political class that, for embracing the dangerously simplistic ideology of self-regulating markets, bears responsibility for the current mess."

Seeds of discord

BEING A lawyer, David Limbaugh surely knows the legal difference between ordinary speech and hate speech. As pointed out on the Internet site, www.mediamatters.org, the radio purveyors of hate speech extend far beyond the usual suspects. Collectively, they have rendered civil discourse an almost fatal blow. The Obama administration must use the power at its disposal to root out these hatemongers and render them impotent in their admittedly capable ability to sow seeds of discord and divisiveness among the American people.

Take the punishment

I WAS taught to fight back and defend myself in school if I was attacked but accept the punishment that would be doled out to me without complaint from me or my dad.

No Clintons

I USED to think Barack Obama was a smart person until I read he might make Hillary Clinton secretary of state. If he were really smart he wouldn't let the Clintons anywhere near his place of business. The world is in a bad enough shape without letting them in on the action. There is a reason they call them ex-presidents.

Looking for a refund

I DON'T know anything about this play that everyone is so upset about, but I am forced to pay every day to have someone else's values forced down my throat. I pay taxes to a government that refuses to treat me as a person. I do not have the same rights as other people just because of who I spend my life with. No rights or protections, that what my tax dollars pay for. Can I get a refund?

Away from the right

I WANT to thank Rush Limbaugh for helping Barack Obama become president. Limbaugh attacked John McCain and rallied the dittoheads against him during the primary season. This helped force McCain to shift his views to the right and pick a horribly unqualified running mate to appease the right wing of the GOP. Unfortunately for Limbaugh and McCain, this was a change election -- away from the right. I can only hope that Limbaugh continues his efforts to divide the moderate and right wings of his party.

Feeling the pain

THOSE WHO call themselves conservatives and defended George Bush for so long are jumping ship and calling for -- for what? If Bush wasn't a conservative, why did they defend him for so long? Had they had the courage to call out Bush on his big-government Republicanism not being in sync with conservatism, they might not now be in the mess they are. Poor GOP. I feel its pain.

Unexpected record

A SOUTHEAST Missourian editorial noted that the bailout of AIG is not what taxpayers expect. I would add that not much of anything George Bush did was what taxpayers expected, except, perhaps, the super-wealthy.

Flexible guidance

THE PERSON who says nowhere in the Constitution does it say the government can bail out a failing economy is not quite correct. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution says Congress has the power do anything "necessary or proper" and to provide for the "general welfare" of the United States. The Founders didn't know what was exactly going to challenge our country, so they made the Constitution flexible.