Speak Out 12/2/01

Christmas spirit

TO THE people who have been calling Speak Out about the little things that bothered them during the Christmas parade: Please don't complain about such a beautiful event. We should be happy we have so much Christmas spirit in this town.

Total support

I'LL STAND in line. I support our nation 100 percent. And we should fight this war until we've won.

Something decent

WHAT A surprise that television executives were stunned that 30 million views tuned in to watch the Carol Burnett special. Maybe they got the message that Hollywood is out of touch with America, and maybe they will cancel about 75 percent of the trash on network television and give us something decent to watch again.

No need to worry

THE ONLY ones who would have to worry about military tribunals and midnight knocks are the ones who had something to do with terrorism and, therefore, have something to hide. I have nothing to do with terrorism and definitely have nothing to hide, so I have nothing to worry about. They won't be knocking on my door. I wonder about the ones who are in such a huff about this. Do they have something to hide? The tribunals are simply so that terrorists don't know where the trials are being held and therefore won't hit the area.

Trying out comedy

TEN THOUSAND comedians are starving to death, and someone here is trying to make jokes by telling us that Socrates would read Speak Out.

A clod is no rose

A ROSE by any other name would smell. Call it what you will, horse-sense heartlanders are still Hee-Haw clods. Opinionated? Yes. Intellectual? No.

Where are jobs?

JOBS? WHERE? Would someone please explain to me where are all the jobs? I recently graduated from an accredited university and had high expectations for starting my career. So I move back home to Cape Girardeau and find that there are no jobs to be found unless you know some people and they pull some strings. I left for four years and come back and find that nothing has changed in Cape. It is still the very conservative way that it always has been. I tried to land a job at the university and was overqualified for the job but did not seem able to get in with the elite at SEMO. People wonder why Cape has not grown that much over the past 10 years. Create more jobs.

Accentuate the positive

COULD SOMEONE please explain to me why in this time of grief people are still bickering about the Democrats did this and the Republicans did that? It makes no sense whatsoever. It is pretty apparent that the people doing all of the complaining did not lose anybody on that fatal day of Sept. 11. If anything you would think that it would make people a little bit more civil towards each other. Instead of pinpointing the negatives, let's look at the positives.

Inspires reading

GOD BLESS the Harry Potter books. Any book that inspires my second-grader to take on the challenge of reading at a fifth-grade level should be commended, not condemned.

No mood to pay

UPWARDS OF 90 percent of the American people approve of Attorney General John Ashcroft's use of secret military tribunals to deal with those who may have some connection to terrorists. Some think these courts are illegal and are subverting our constitutional system, but even they don't seem to care all that much. The fact that virtually all Americans approve of these extra-, if not un-, constitutional tribunals seems proof positive that the human animal will opt for security over freedom every time, a maxim often stipulated by Stalinists, known by neo-nazis and understood by numerous fellow-traveling opinion shapers. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Currently, we seem in no mood to pay it.

Everything except ...

AS EXPRESSED so eloquently by another caller, I also adore the Southeast Missourian's Opinion page. However, my love for it is qualified. There are some parts of it for which I do not care. Those would be editorials, syndicated and local columns, letters to the editor and editorial cartoons.

Blaming America

DAVID LIMBAUGH'S column, "No more apologies," was right on target. It is time for the so-called intellectuals to stop this nonsense of blaming America for all the world's ills. Almost all of the Arab nations have some form of repressive government. And several (Iran and Saudi Arabia for example) of the political governments are subservient to the religious leaders. To continually blame the United States for all the ills that plague the Mideast is ludicrous. There comes a time when all nations must assume responsibility for their own sad state of affairs and to quit blaming other nations for their plight. I think that time is now.

Mysterious ways

GOD BLESS Angie Rinck, the guardian angel who saved a woman's life by simply paying attention to her surroundings. Also, pray for Helga Adams as she will be going through difficult times this holiday season. God does work in mysterious ways.

Welfare for St. Louis

BRYAN WELKERS' plea for state support for the new Cardinals baseball stadium is flawed. He states that "the cost to the taxpayer would be zero." This is not, however, the case. While it is true that we would not have to contribute cash, we would forgo tax receipts. These forgone tax receipts could be used to fund other needed projects such as health (which the tobacco fund was supposed to cover), transportation (which the increased fuel tax was supposed to cover) and the SEMO River Campus (another economic black hole). St. Louis may indeed need the new ballpark to prompt new economic activity, but when will they be self-sufficient as a viable metropolitan area that does not constantly need some form of federal and state tax money? Every time we turn around, we are bailing out either St. Louis or Kansas City for one reason or another. When will it end? It will end only when the Missouri taxpayer gets fed up with these feel-good projects that are foisted off as new economic activity. This taxpayer has had enough. No more welfare for St. Louis.