Speak Out 11/19/05

Headed for success

I WOULD like everyone to succeed. After all, that is what makes a great country. In order to succeed, you have to put forth effort. You can't expect things to be handed to you on a silver platter. There are only a few people in the country who have inherited their wealth. Most have worked hard to get it. They have taken their education seriously. Students must be pushed and encouraged from home to succeed and not ignored and brushed aside. Students, are you doing your part? Parents, are you doing yours?

Better education

IN RESPONSE to "Not enough time": This is a perfect example of why an education is so important, if you have to work a full-time job and two part-time jobs.

Duty, honor, country

ON VETERANS Day, what this country needed was a series of speeches from our president, vice president and senior staff members on topics related to duty, honor and country. What we did not need was a collective group of sermons on why it is wrong to disagree with their position or even to question their rationale at all.

It's just weather

WHAT HAS gotten into people around here? A little bad weather blows through, and everyone acts like it's the end of the world. Schools dismiss early. Meetings and classes still hours away are canceled. Get a grip, everyone. It's just a little weather, not Armageddon.

Children in stores

CHILDREN ARE being neglected in stores. I have seen children running around unattended in many stores. How long will this go on? What do the people with children expect? Free baby-sitting? When a store employee gets onto your child, you get mad. I do not see any harm in a child going with a responsible adult into stores, being polite and mannerly, not causing harm to others or damaging store property. But neglectful adults need to answer to the court system for child abuse.

It happened here

TO THE individual who thinks what is happening in France can't and won't happen here: What do you call the looting in New Orleans after the hurricane? A peaceful gathering?

Liberal line

ONLY A liberal would call for even higher taxes on gasoline. Taxes are supposed to be used to fund government services, not punish people. And liberals always throw that line in about reducing our dependence on foreign oil when they are the ones who keep us dependent on it with their ridiculous environmental regulations.

Plenty of questions

I HAVE questions for the individuals who continue to make remarks about haves and have-nots. What exactly does this mean? Who decides who fits within each classification? Which one is bad? What does one do about guilt associated with either classification? What if one finds himself in one class and would prefer the other? Who gave anyone the right to classify others?

Realistic scheduling

REGARDING ALL the talk about city buses running 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Why in the world do people need public transportation 24 hours a day? We need to get some common sense instead of having feel-good ideas. Let's be realistic.

Deserve to know

I AGREE with the teacher who thinks parents need to know how school security issues are handled. The taxpaying public certainly deserves to know exactly how tax dollars are abused when it comes to school security and the manner in which these disputes are resolved. It is a shame the way threats from both students and irate parents can be fluffed off with "I didn't mean it." As the teacher said, when someone gets hurt, everyone wants to know why. Stop the problem before it starts.