Speak Out 12/9/08

Punching buttons

I'M READING about this new technique at school where kids punch a button to answer questions on a computer screen. This is ridiculous. Kids sit around and play with their electronic games and don't know what is going on around them. Now schools are fortifying the idea that all they've got to do is punch buttons. If this is all schools have got to spend money on, they don't need money.

Paying for air

I HAVE a problem with paying to put air in your tires at gas stations, If stations are going to charge, why don't they only charge for the amount of the air you need?

Wet pavement

IF YOU'VE ever driven Kingshighway or Broadway or William Street on a rainy evening after dark, you're taking your life in your own hands. You can't see any of the painted lines. I wish that someone would take a look at this situation. It's a terrible, dangerous situation.

Not listening

THE VAST majority of American citizens do not want bailouts. Our elected officials are not listening.

Mystery turkey

A KIND person left a turkey on my front porch. I found it the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. There was no card or note saying who the turkey was from. I do not know how long it was sitting on the front porch before I came home from work that day. I do not use the front door most of the time, and it is dark when I come home. So I am not even positive that the turkey was left that day. It did not appear to be frozen. We are afraid to eat the turkey because we do not know how long it sat on the porch. Please, don't leave perishable food on someone's porch. And please leave a note with your gift of food. Anonymous giving isn't safe these days unless the gift is in a tamper-proof container.

Moving to the center

YOU HAVE a distorted view if you believe the Republican Party is debating whether or not to move to the center. Responsible Republicans are already moving in that direction, as they should. Only a scattered few print-media mavens and radio and TV talk-show hosts who thrive on creating cognitive chaos say otherwise, and their influence is rapidly waning.

Providing jobs

WITH 533,000 jobs being cut this November, I hope that President Obama will revive the Works Progress Administration of the Great Depression. I know that conservatives love to make fun of the WPA, but by November 1938 it offered jobs to 3.3 million Americans who would not have had jobs otherwise. Jobs for Americans are more important than anything else right now.

Unfair justice

JACOB YARBROUGH has been detained in Perry County Jail for over 250 days without a trial. He defended himself in a fistfight after some guy threatened to shoot him. Nothing has happened to the other guy. What has happened to "innocent until proven guilty" or the right to a quick and speedy trial?

Great concert

KUDOS TO the Jackson Junior High School choirs. Their presentation was professionally designed and choreographed. It is so refreshing to see the students having fun with a school activity. Special recognition must go to the directors, Tyson Zahner, Arika Winborne, Beth St. John and accompanist Christy Shinn. We attended last year, and each year the program gets better. Thanks for a wonderful evening full of good music and funny choreography.

Grounds for new trial

SOMETHING STINKS in the Joshua Kezer case. At the very least this guy has to be given a new trial and with it a thorough investigation of the all persons involved in the original prosecution. No matching DNA, jailhouse snitches, conflicting stories, withholding evidence -- he has all the grounds for a new trial if not complete exoneration.

Has work stopped?

WHAT HAS happened on Highway 72 phase three road construction? It seems as though the contractor has quit working on it and has left us to drive through narrow lanes and dangerous conditions.

Thing of the past

AMERICA NEEDS to realize that unions are a thing of the past. Corporations that are unionized are the ones that are suffering. They cannot afford to pay the high wages. A lot of these unions are forcing American companies to move overseas. Unions are going to the be the downfall of this country.

Complicated letter

AS AN educated parent of a Central Middle School student, I feel sorry for less educated parents when they received the letter from the school district explaining the tutoring options. There's a reason only 6 percent of parents opted for outside tutoring. The letter was so long and the outside firms' information so buried it would have been a wonder that they even figured out what was what. After-school tutoring at CMS is more like homework assistance and free baby-sitting. When MAP scores come out again, we taxpayers will hear the same hand-wringing as this year.

Beautiful cemetery

THANK YOU to all the people who help maintain the veterans cemetery in Bloomfield, Mo. My father is buried there, and it is such a great tribute to those who have sacrificed so much for our country. The cemetery is beautiful, and it brings tears of joy and sorrow to my heart to drive by when the flags are half-staff. Keep up the good work.

Not a cult

DAVID LIMBAUGH, you know better. For all intents and purposes, you recently referred to Barack Obama's followers as a "cult." You know that many millions of people here and around the world support Obama and that a cult is a religion with a relatively small following.