Speak Out 11/25/02

Aquatic center support

AS A Cape Girardeau native and resident, you bet I'll support a tax to build a new aquatic center. The economy in our area remains vibrant despite the national situation. But to keep it that way, we need to look to the future and fund a project that will bring people -- and their dollars -- to our town. I hope other voters will consider the long-term benefits of supporting this project and not see it as a flimsy excuse to raise taxes.

Play was fantastic

FANTASTIC! That's the best word I can find to describe the recent play performed at Southeast Missouri State University. The play was "Don't Dress for Dinner." I laughed so hard watching that play that I almost split my britches. I can't wait for the next play the Theater Department performs. I will become a regular patron on the plays. Thank you to all the students and staff who made watching the play an enjoyable experience.

The opposite effect

CALLERS HAVE claimed that the way to world peace is for America to commence unprovoked attacks throughout the world. Attacking Iraq will have the opposite effect. The CIA has come to the conclusion that attacking Iraq will provoke Saddam Hussein into using weapons of mass destruction. They conclude further that terrorist cells will use what will be seen as unprovoked aggression by "The Great Satan" as inspiration for more direct attacks on us. Dismissing protesters for peace as being somehow unmanly is a bit bizarre when the CIA, hardly a pacifist organization, and several politicos who actually have been to war agree that this is a foolhardy venture that will put us at extreme risk.

Time to wake up

THANKS TO the Sierra Club for bringing hybrid cars to Cape Girardeau. It's time that folks around here woke up to what automobile technology can do to reduce gas consumption and protect the world's finite oil resources -- not to mention defuse the need for an oil war and the Republican attack on wildlife refuges to provide their corporate oil bosses more income.

Choosing the Clintons

I KNOW not whom the others may choose, but I will choose the Clintons any day.

Another covered pool

THE IDEA that the city would spend millions of our hard-earned dollars on an aquatic park that will be used for about 90 days a year is so laughable it hurts. If we need a new pool, just build another one where the old one is and cover it for year-round use.

Auto industry in reverse

WHILE REFRIGERATORS, washing machines and computers have grown vastly more efficient in the past 20 years, the automobile has gone in reverse. Average miles per gallon keeps declining. Why aren't U.S. automakers using existing technology to save drivers gas money, help the environment and end our nation's insane dependence on foreign oil?

Read letter at churches

THANK YOU, Shelly Goss, for writing your letter. This letter should be read out loud at all churches. Jesus was a pacifist.

Different regimes

I CANNOT believe someone is unable to differentiate between the regimes in Rwanda, Uganda and Somalia and the regime of Saddam Hussein. Those aforementioned leaders haven't the capabilities to use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Saddam has demonstrated he can and will use weapons of mass destruction if given the chance.

Let the Arabs do it

IN REGARD to the gentleman who was born in Iraq and is now a U.S citizen: I'm not sure why it is our responsibility to get rid of Saddam Hussein. I truly feel it would make much more sense if the Arab world took care of removing him. It would seem that the Arab countries have the wealth and manpower to take on Iraq just as well as the United States. It would also help to prevent the attitude of many Arabs in that part of the world who think we are trying to take over the region.

Oil dictates our lives

I'M A protester, and I want us to get off of our dependence on oil altogether. I want renewable energy technology. I'm sick of the oil companies dictating our lives, running our country and sending our children into war. We need a grassroots political movement to stop these trends.

It's about Big Business

IT'S TRUE that the United States has helped ruthless dictators all over the world, including Saddam Hussein. The driving force behind most of our foreign policy has always been the interests of Big Business. What makes you think Iraq is any different?

Moral issues of war

I WANT to applaud the Shelly Goss letter. It is easy for us to talk of war at a distance. It's easy to forget that many innocent children have been killed due to sanctions and will be killed in a war with Iraq. Christians are supposed to look deeper than immediate knee-jerk fears and aspire to higher moral ground. It's not that war is never acceptable. But it's only acceptable under certain circumstances. An unprovoked attack on Iraq is not a just war. It will cause more evil than good.

Consider the alternatives

ONCE AGAIN, our elected representatives show they care nothing for wetlands and the environment in which we live. Rather than urging the Corps of Engineers to consider alternatives to the New Madrid Floodway Project, they urge the corps to stand its ground, appeal the decision of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and try to railroad through a plan that serves a few landowners who have already been well-fattened from feeding at the public trough and will almost certainly not solve the flooding problems faced by the residents of these Southeast Missouri communities.

Well-deserved dissing

I DON'T make it a habit of defending the diatribes of David Limbaugh, but his dissing of Bill Moyers was well-deserved.

Take responsibility

THE PARENT of the child who doesn't turn in his homework should take some responsibility. Make sure your child does his or her homework at night. Call your child's teacher and check on his progress periodically. Why is it that it is everyone's fault but the parents when their children aren't doing well in school?

Ask for updates

TEACHERS HAVE enough to do teaching children, making sure that they are safe and doing everything else the school district wants. If parents want updates on their children's grades, they can ask for them. Teachers are more than willing to update parents.