Speak Out 12/16/11

Thank you

THANKS to First Presbyterian Church on Lorimier and Broadway for the beautiful living Nativity this past weekend. This year the setting included live animals: donkeys, sheep and even a camel. Our granddaughter was so impressed with the scene, and we also enjoyed hot cocoa and chili in the church's fellowship hall. Good job.

City roads

I am pleased to see that the city is making great progress lately in fixing the roads that have had huge potholes and other problem places where the roads had buckled because of the hot and dry summer. Thank you, and keep up the good work.

Newt being PC

NEWT Gingrich was politically correct before political correctness became popular. A couple of decades ago, Newt was trying to get the name of the national Christmas tree changed to the national holiday tree. What do you think about that?

Urban deer

IF you're going to call the committee designed to figure out a sanitizing way to kill deer within Cape Girardeau the urban deer hunting committee, then be prepared for a Speak Out tongue-lashing straight out of the Urban Dictionary.

Pearl Harbor

THANKS to congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson and the Southeast Missourian for writing Pearl Harbor Day pieces commemorating the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Parade, politicians

I just wanted to speak out against all the political involvement in Jackson's Christmas parade. I don't think the tea party or any of the political candidates have a place in a Christmas celebration like the parade. I just feel it makes it just a little less joyful. I think there were at least five or six political ads in this year's parade and that is five or six too many. Let's leave that stuff for the media or yard signs. Christmas is for the children and those who want to celebrate their faith.

City survey

I sure hope I get a survey from the city. Cape Girardeau is a wonderful place to live. Not perfect, but great.

Jensen column

MIKE Jensen recently launched yet another broadside attack against the Obama administration for allegedly dividing the nation. Of course, nothing was written about Newt Gingrich nor did Jensen mention that he himself, as well as Gingrich, are the nation's penultimate polarizers.

President's speech

IN President Obama's "Teddy Roosevelt" speech he said the pretty words, and they sound so meaningful, but he doesn't mean them. They are just words, just tools that he uses to try to gain re-election. He says our system should be fair, that everyone should have the same chance, and everyone should play by the same rules. Isn't that what America has always stood for? It's he who is changing America. He said he was going to, and now he is.

Pujols deal

PUJOLS may not have gotten such a big deal after all. Has he figured the cost of living in California? And it isn't getting any better as the state is broke. He will have 10 years to figure out if it was a mistake or a good deal.

Telling the truth

DAVID Limbaugh recently assured us that the 2012 presidential election won't be about competing visions for the country but rather about who is telling the truth. I hope Limbaugh is correct, particularly in light of the fact that the Republican nominee could well be Newt Gingrich.

Committee agenda

ARE you kidding me? I have read a lot of incredulous statements in the Southeast Missourian, but none surpasses the recently quoted person who said no one on Cape Girardeau's urban deer hunting committee has an agenda, unless you do not consider "an agenda" to mean favoring the decimation of the deer population.

Obama chaos

TO the person who submitted the class warfare comment: Thank you, I was beginning to believe I was the only one. Look at all the discord and chaos Obama has brought. And people want another four years of that?

Ron Paul

This may be premature but I think I'm pre-empting a lot of others by sincerely thanking Ron Paul for running for president as a third-party candidate, thus ensuring the re-election of President Obama.

Dems communication

THE right has talk radio. The Democratic Party needs to organize to confer with others in the party to communicate priorities of their platform and agenda.

Start petition

GOOD people need to sign a petition and get a long list of names to give to the FCC to get some of these things changed on the television or radio, some of the foul words and obscenity.

Voter list

ALEXANDER County voters are facing another election next March, and we still have that overloaded voter registration list on our hands. With seven county clerks within the past 20 years or so, we just don't seem to have the time to follow the Illinois statutes regarding purging the voter rolls. A lot of lip service is all we seem to get on this matter.

Littering problem

I was driving south on West End Boulevard near Shawnee Park and noticed that the side of the road has become a place where people think they can throw out their trash. This makes our city look bad. It is only going to blow to the other side of the road, then into the park that the city has invested a lot of tax dollars into. If people do not respect the law and stop littering, the next generation will inherit a pile of trash that we create for them.

Europe, U.S.

IT'S an interesting fairy tale that Wayne Bowen spun in last Thursday's paper about the cause of the European nations' debt. With just a little research, a person can ferret out the actual cause. Surprise, it has the exact same origins as our present economic crisis. Here's a hint: It starts with Goldman Sachs, the banksters and deregulation.

Dress code

IF there is a dress code for students, then there should also be one for all employees of the school. Adults wearing school uniforms would help with safety problems. Uniforms will show which adults are outsiders and which belong on campus.

Broadway buildings

I'M not a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, so I have no ax to grind here. But I have no problem with them tearing down the old, dilapidated building. For years, people have been griping about the buildings on Broadway, but none of these gripers has done a single thing about it. Everyone expects either the government or "someone else" to fix things.

Remembering the fallen

WHEN our president and the president of Iraq laid the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier honoring the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women, I wonder if the families of those whose remains were buried at a New Jersey landfill somehow felt left out.

Will column

COLUMNIST George Will wrote that if Ron Paul ran as a third-party candidate, he could ruin the Republican chances to recapture the presidency. Run, Ron, run.

Pujols headline

SO now the newspaper publishes a headline saying Pujols "flees." Really? So when a person takes a different job they're fleeing their former employer? Ridiculous.