SPEAK OUT

Where's the money?

FOR ALL the talk about how us bad Republicans are going to spend all this money and everyone's going to be broke, I'd ask you Democrats one question. I read where our interim governor, Roger Wilson, wanted to spend $30.9 million on a museum and memorial for late Gov. Mel Carnahan. We don't have enough money to pay for our children's schools. We don't have enough money to pay for these poor senior citizens' medicine. Where are we going to come up with $30.9 million to pay for a museum? You talk about hypocrisy. There we are.

FDR saved us

TO THE person who said Roosevelt prolonged the Depression by high taxes: My parents lived through that time. We lost everything we had. Farms were foreclosed, and the banks were broke. Roosevelt taxed the rich as much as they should be taxed. He didn't prolong the Depression. He formed the National Recovery Program and many other things. Projects built under his administration we still see today. It took him almost 11 years to get us out of the mess Herbert Hoover and his Republicans got us into. We still benefit today by the things he brought about, like Social Security. We would have been a nation of poverty if Franklin Delano Roosevelt had not been elected president.

Free conscience

I AM against any form of abortion. But I also believe God gave each individual a free conscience that cannot be litigated by Republicans or Democrats. As a Christian Catholic I feel God gave us Ten Commandments to live by, which I try to do. But I also realize that he gave each individual a free conscience. That person alone is held accountable. Many of the Ten Commandments are the law of the land, which I certainly uphold. However, how many people do you know who are remarried after a divorce, or work on Sundays, or have false gods such as money? The list could go on and on. First, we must love God above all else. Love our neighbor as ourselves. May God bless you.

Which of two evils?

WHICH IS more evil to a community: casino gambling or youth soccer on Sunday mornings?

Good job on roads

I'D LIKE to say thanks to the state, county and city road crews and all of those who helped to keep our roads clear during the recent snow and ice. I want to thank all the men and women who did an excellent job.

A little maintenance

I HAVE a question for the Show Me Center. When are they going to replace the bulbs in the scoreboard and on the sides? You can hardly figure out what the numbers are when the scoreboard is lit up. And please replace those banged-up signs on top of the shot clock. They look terrible. They're all bashed in. An $18 million facility is going down the drain. Come on, Show Me Center, get your act together.

Right-wing wonks

BIPARTISANSHIP, reconciliation, consensus building and similar buzzwords are the order of the day, politically speaking. Lack of controversy does not sell newspapers and may, in part, explain the Southeast Missourian's editorial stance against buying into this political philosophy. A more likely explanation might be that the editorial-policy wonks at the Southeast Missourian are unreconstructed right-wing ideologues who sincerely believe that to cut a deal with John McCain on campaign-finance reform would be tantamount to caving in to anti-conservatism in a way which would have made Calvin Coolidge catatonic.