OpinionDecember 30, 2009
Speak Out 12/30/09
IT looks like the health care proposal has been rammed down our throats. What did U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill get for Missouri in the form deals to keep costs in Missouri down? What has happened when government knows best? We no longer have people who represent the majority but a minority fringe group. The election of officials with common sense is crucial in 2010. Liberal candidates in Missouri, don't waste your money running...
Where's the deal?
IT looks like the health care proposal has been rammed down our throats. What did U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill get for Missouri in the form deals to keep costs in Missouri down? What has happened when government knows best? We no longer have people who represent the majority but a minority fringe group. The election of officials with common sense is crucial in 2010. Liberal candidates in Missouri, don't waste your money running.
Eminent domain
SOMEONE said we don't have the right to take private property and give it to others. Yes, we do. Under the power of eminent domain, the government can do just that, as long as the property is put to public use and the person from whom the property was taken is justly compensated. In fact, the Supreme Court has broadened that right, concluding that local governments can take private property and turn it over to private concerns in the interest of economic development.
Universal care
SOMEONE asked if the coming passage of the health care bill will pave the way for an eventual single-payer, universal health care system -- Medicare for all, if you will. I certainly hope so.
Bloomfield ideas
THE stretch of Bloomfield Road from Campster School to just west of its intersection with Benton Hill Road is a unique place of natural beauty. It also has educational roots with the site of the first English-speaking school founded west of the Mississippi nearby. The road to Bloomfield played an important role in Civil War history. Rather than mar the beauty of this road, an alternative would be to take a branch off the proposed Armstrong Drive just north of Campster School and angle it toward the Highway 25/74 intersection. Another alternative would be to extend Shawnee Parkway westward.
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Time for reform
CONGRESS continues to act irresponsibly and without conscience. If I behaved as they do in my professional life, I would be fired. And rightly so. Passing legislation as they have this year continues to be divisive for the American people. Their actions present a sad example of failure to represent those who voted them into office. Their actions lack common sense and accountability. They will be well on their way to comfortable retirements for the rest of their lives while the rest of us work well into our retirement years. This administration ran on a platform of transparency. I fail to see the transparency and am increasingly disenchanted with the process of politics that no longer represents America, but increasingly represents special interests. 2010 is a year where we must continue to work to open America's eyes. We cannot become complacent or disengaged. We have to press on and hope for real reform.
City motto
SOME of the comments from residents of Cape Girardeau about the poor and homeless are beyond words. The words of Ebenezer Scrooge from "A Christmas Carol" should be made the official motto of Cape Girardeau: "If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Let the twins, Ignorance and Want, march on Cape Girardeau.
No limits
I am concerned that anyone would criticize churches for helping those in other countries. I think God would feel we weren't doing enough. A thousand people will die today in the Congo alone, due to neglect and violence. Five thousand children today will die due to lack of clean water. Yes, our country experiences poverty, but not starvation or systemic disease due to public sanitation problems, let alone genocide. The good news is that aid is helping. Fewer wars are being fought than ever before. We have enough wealth and compassion to help our own and those elsewhere. Why would we ever limit God's ability through us and our churches?
More harassment
DESPITE continuous harassment of the law-abiding flying public, the Transportation Security Administration has failed miserably in its duty to protect them by ignoring a known and credible threat. As penance for this for this transgression, the TSA has promised to -- what else? -- harass the law-abiding flying public even more severely.
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