SPEAK OUT

Verbal assault

CHRISTINE STEPHENS recently described quadriplegic Christopher Reeve and Parkinson's disease-afflicted Michael J. Fox of having "paraded around Capitol Hill for months lobbying ... for stem-cell research." Reeve and Fox are "selfish and narcissistic little men," Stephens went on to say. Never before has Stephens' single-minded fanaticism been more reflected than in that vicious verbal assault on two wonderful men. I was sickened by her language.

All about power

ANY PERSON who spends his own time and money campaigning for a public-service position that offers nothing in return hopes to achieve one or more of the following gains: power, perks, prestige or ego satisfaction. Compassion in the realm of politics, whether it be the local school board or any other public-service position, plays no significant role, not even for the sake of children.

Stop signs help

THANKS TO the city for the four-way stop at Hopper Road and Mount Auburn Road. It is long overdue. A traffic circle or stop lights would be better. However, the stop signs enable residents in the neighborhood to get out onto Mount Auburn with greater safety as well as help prevent rear-end accidents involving drivers trying to turn onto Hopper.

Not so innocent

PEARL HARBOR blah, blah, blah. Japanese are evil blah, blah, blah. Have you people forgotten that we dropped two atomic bombs on Japan that are still killing people today? Have you forgotten that we interned innocent American citizens just because of their heritage? Yes the attack on Hawaii was horrible, but we Americans are not so innocent as we like to think.

Is it our plan?

POINT OF clarification: The Republican-controlled Missouri Senate's defeat of the governor's transportation bill was, in reality, a defeat of a proposal which would have allowed Missouri voters to decide the issue. Thus, it could be that Republicans with a populist bent support referring proposals to voters only when they think it may serve their best interests. On the other hand, they apparently shy away when they fear voters may approve something they oppose.

Free-market failure

"PRICES ARE amazingly effective at communicating information to everyone in the marketplace," posited a Southeast Missourian screed. Yes, they are. One of the messages currently being communicated by the free market to those on fixed incomes is turn off your utilities and forget about being able to pay for potentially lifesaving prescription drugs. The prices are prohibitive, and the free market offers no short-term solution. So just live -- or maybe die -- with it.

No shame involved

ABOUT PEARL Harbor: The Japanese people today should not have to hold their heads in shame anymore than I should be expected to hold my head in shame for what my ancestors did to the slaves. I couldn't help it.

Double standards

LET THE return to morality continue. Jenna Bush is arrested a second time in two weeks, and twin sister Barbara gets her first. And the White House wants us to think that this matter should be left private and unreported. Of course, it was OK to exploit the Clintons' family matters. This administration is just chock full of double standards.

Transcendent truths

JON RUST is not a conservative firebrand as a Speak Out caller alleged. The word firebrand implies that young Rust shoots from the hip. This is not the case. Rust is a contemplative, thoughtful, philosophical conservative in the tradition of Edmund Burke, Friedrich Von Hayek, Ludwig Von Mises, Ernest Van Den Haag and William F. Buckley. Speak Out and other critics must learn to accept Rust's views as transcendent truths, even if they seem to be at odds with their own opinions.

Eternal vigilance

EDITOR JOE Sullivan's Kafkaesque parody of a vengeful city government turning on its own citizens for criticizing street innovations was so realistic it nearly paralyzed me with anxiety. Could Cape become an Orwellian community with the city fathers demanding conformity to their ways in all phases of our lives? If so, what would happen if we rebelled? The unthinkable? Could, say, an area off Gordonville Road become a gulag for dissidents? Scoff if you will, but it could happen. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Thank you, Joe Sullivan.

Meditation technique

WHAT WAS outrageous about a federally financed faith-based wellness education program for a New Age Church in Herndon, Va.? David Limbaugh complained about it at length, yet this seems to be the very thing the Bush administration and, I assumed, Limbaugh supported. Limbaugh strongly implied that some of the stress-reduction techniques used at the church (meditation and candle burning) were absurd. I am here to testify that they aren't.