Speak Out 11/5/05

Short season

THE NEW TV season started in September, and all the new shows were on. By the end of October everything was reruns. What's up?

Wide-open burning

THE PROXIMITY of people in towns and cities is the main reason for banning burning of leaves. Those who want to burn should move to the country where they won't present a hazard to their neighbors.

Scorching issues

ENOUGH OF this leaf-burning argument. My suggestion is cut down all the trees. This is about as silly as all the other gripes and solutions. Our world is scorched with disease, hunger, wars, disasters, terrorists, and moral values. What do we gripe most about? Burning leaves. Give me a break.

Unwanted labels

I'VE ALWAYS considered myself an average guy. I've worked the same job almost 30 years, raised and educated four kids and paid my taxes without ever receiving any government money in return. My wife and I attend church on Sunday, and our greatest joy is our grandchildren. Sounds pretty normal, right? But not according to top Democrats in Washington. Because we support a Supreme Court nominee who is a originalist rather than a judge who wants to legislate from the bench, my wife and I are extreme right-wing radicals. To make matters worse, when my wife found out we were both kooks, she wanted to enroll us in sensitivity training.

It's still fun

I USED to go trick-or-treating with our two kids and our one grandson and really had fun. Now that I'm old, I get in costume and pass out candy at home. It's fun too.

Level of debate

THE NRA called my house and asked me to agree that it's OK to shoot someone in my home. I guess the NRA figures it can throw out the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" whenever it chooses. It made me so angry I couldn't think straight. Then I realized that's what the NRA wanted. It was trying to get me to its level.

Winning band

CONGRATULATIONS TO the Central High School Marching Tigers on winning third place in the St. Louis contest. What an awesome season the band had. Cape Girardeau is fortunate to have a high school that supports its music programs.

Mindless destruction

INTELLIGENCE IS lacking in individuals who decide that playing involves the destruction of property of others. I am sick of individuals, juvenile in either age or mentality, getting away with such destruction as Cape Girardeau has recently experienced at Old Lorimier Cemetery. Whether the cemetery is historic or not, no one has a right to destroy what does not belong to him. In time, these individuals will be caught, and I hope the severity of their punishment will include the embarrassment of having their names plastered all over so all will know who they are, regardless of age. With this comes a warning: What you do in your youth will follow you the rest of your life. Choose to respect others and their property and you will find yourself rising to a higher position.

Truth or nonsense?

JIHADWATCH.ORG is a scare site and nothing more. It's wonderful to live in an age where information is so readily available, but people seem to have a hard time deciphering what is truth and what is pure nonsense.

Within the law

HAVING YOUR child on two insurance plans is not abusing the system. We were told by one company that we were committing fraud by having our child on my ex-husband's insurance and on Medicaid. The Division of Family Services later told me that we were not, that what we were doing was legal. I could not afford health insurance, so my child was covered on my ex-husband's insurance. What his didn't pay, Medicaid picked up.