Speak Out 12/23/09

Reform is change

WHY do opponents of health care reform insist on putting quotation marks around the word reform? Reform means change. Whether it is change for the better or worse may be debatable, but there is no need to debate whether or not the current health care bill will bring about change.

What we got

WE'VE been ratted out: We voted for a parks tax, but while the Osage Community Centre and the Arena Building get enlarged and fixed up, the south-side community center gets shrunk. The water park is getting built, but it looks like the Capaha Pool will be closed. We voted for paving county roads, but instead we got chip and seal. We voted for a tourism tax, and most of the money went to the university. We voted for a roads tax, and while the city got LaSalle Avenue open to serve Jackson, the city can't pull the trigger on Fountain Street. We voted to renovate the library, but instead they tore it down and built a new one. Schultz School had to be closed because it was structurally deficient, but a private developer renovated it into a senior housing center. We voted for a school tax because the old high school wasn't big enough, so they built a smaller one. The school district promised to renovate Franklin Elementary School, but now the board wants to tear it down. The district can't afford to rent a stadium for $10,000, so it wants to build one for $10 million. Do you think I am going to vote for a new bond issue?

It's an option

WHAT is unfair about Ireland is that if you're well off, you can leave and have an abortion. But if you're poor, you don't have that luxury. I would suggest that it is no more selfish to have an abortion than it is to have children who are not being cared for. I'm grateful as a woman living in modern-day America that this is an option for me.