Speak Out 2/10/05

Parents' responsibility

IF TEENAGE girls have sex, then they choose to get pregnant. They know the consequences. The reason for so many teenage pregnancies is because parents don't keep an eye on where their daughters and sons are. It is just as much the boy's fault, especially when it's so easy to get protection. Stupid kids are the result of irresponsible parents. Everybody else shouldn't have to pay for their mistakes.

Grabbing for money

I LIKE the idea of the trolley for Cape Girardeau, but I don't like the idea that we have to run to Washington, D.C., every time we want some money for our town. There are enough businesses that would benefit from tourism. We can't run to Washington for everything and expect the budget to be balanced.

They're our enemies

ALL COMMUNIST countries are enemies of U.S. democracy. They are all repressive of their people: no voting for leaders, just power-driven autocracy and dictatorship. It took President Reagan to bring down the Soviet Union. The United States will never allow communism to rule the world. Communist countries will be contained and prevented from imposing and inflicting their rule upon the free world.

The power of fear

I WONDER why we're not getting anymore yellow or orange alerts. Just think of the Super Bowl last year, for instance. Could it be because the presidential election is over? Everyone should read "1984" and "Animal Farm" to understand how leaders manipulate people and instill fear into their hearts so the leader will maintain his power.

Farmers' welfare

ANY MONEY taken from the government in the form of a handout is considered welfare. Farmers call it program payments, but it is also welfare. We need to cut off some of this type of welfare.

Great softball camp

I WAS calling to commend the Southeast Missouri State University women's softball team and its coach, Lana Richman, and pitching coach, Jeannie, for a wonderful softball camp. My daughter is 8 years old. This was her first time ever at a camp like that, and she enjoyed every minute. She's going back next week. Thank you again, women's softball at Southeast Missouri State University.

Fighting for rights

I'VE SEEN a lot of negative remarks about Bobby Seale speaking in Cape Girardeau and the Black Panthers being compared to the Klan. There's one big difference. For those of us who lived in the 1950s and 1960s, the Black Panthers were merely trying to get justice for the black people. I remember going through the South as a kid, and there would be a "Whites only" signs in front of restaurants. I wonder if that had been reversed how many White Panther groups would have sprung up. Times have changed. But for those of us who remember segregation at its worst and the plight of the black man, I feel that they did exactly what they needed to do. I would have done the very same thing.

Did it heal itself?

PROMINENT DEMOCRATS a few years ago -- Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and others -- were all proclaiming that the Social Security system would be facing a crisis and something needed to be done. Now that President Bush has proposed tackling the problem, these same people are claiming that the Social Security system is sound. What happened? Did the system somehow magically fix itself?

Salute to the troops

THE HIGHLIGHT of the Super Bowl was the commercial depicting people waiting for their flights in an airport. They all stand and applaud when they see troops coming through the airport. At the end it had a big sign that said "Thanks." Thank you, Anheuser-Busch.