SPEAK OUT

Shouting the truth

A CALLER pointed out that blacks commit more crimes even though they make up only 18 percent of the population. I'd like to comment. I don't agree that blacks commit more crime than other groups, but I must agree that crime is a serious problem in the black community. On that point, I thank the caller for having the courage to shout the truth.

Brightens my day

CITY COUNCIL, thank you so much for the new four-way stop. I have wanted to move my morning timetable up and start my day another 15 minutes early to arrive at work. Now I have that opportunity. I also find it most enjoyable to be lined up with dozens of other vehicles all expending precious fuel as we stop and go. The smiles I see from other people waiting with me just brighten my day. Then when it truly is my turn I further enjoy seeing how the right-of-way law gets used. Who chooses this time? Is it the oldest driver? The guy with the biggest vehicle? The person on the other end of the cell phone? A roundabout would have been much more appropriate.

Eating aphorisms

I WONDER how the Speak Out caller self-described as "old ant" would have coped in post-World War I Germany? There, inflation got so bad it took barrels and eventually billions of reichsmarks to purchase the bare necessities of life. The old ant seemed satisfied, even smug because he apparently thinks he is prepared for all of life's economic contingencies. Ah, if only life were as predictable as the old ant opines. History is replete with examples which illustrate that more than one old ant has had to eat his aphorisms.

Speaking in tongues

IT'S AMAZING to me how you devout, holier-than-thou folk can always find what you want to find in the Bible. I didn't realize there were so many Greek and Hebrew scholars living in Southeast Missouri. Yet to many of you English is still a foreign language. Like St. Paul, I stand in amazement.

It's horse hockey

AS MUCH as I hate to admit it, it seems that all you global-warming folks are right. The satellite evidence is in, and the average temperature did rise during the 20th century -- almost three-quarters of one degree. Better get ready, because we're all going to be roasting. Of course, that is nothing compared to the increase of several degrees during the early 17th century. But that was before the industrial revolution when there were no factories and no automobiles, so whom do we blame? It must have been some sort of naturally occurring phenomenon. What this all comes down to is that we have all got to stop letting others tell us what to believe. When someone makes a statement, research it yourself. Science has become too political. Many scientists say whatever they think will get them the most grant money. Go to your public library, research the data and draw your own conclusions! I have, and I've decided that global warming is a load of horse hockey. I am an engineer, and I do not work for the petroleum industry. By the way, can someone name one of the so-called Nobel laureates who supposedly have proof that global warming is a problem? I can't find any of their data anywhere.

Wrong generation

NEO-LIBERTARIANS James and Mary Nall have written that "the baby boomers are ... the most selfish generation this nation has produced." Well, I disagree. Unless they are baby boomers, I think the most selfish generation is the Nalls'.

Stubborn holdouts

THIS IS a major news story. EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman and President George Bush now admit that the phenomenon of global warming is real and does exist. The only ones now denying its well-documented-by-science existence are a handful of Southeast Missourian letter-to-the-editor writers and head-in-the-sand Speak Out commentators.

Damned

He was the master of his fate.

He was the captain of his soul.

And thus McVeigh has kept his date

with that dank, dark, wormy hole.

Up in smoke

I ENCOURAGE all Cape Girardeau employees to attend the Fourth of July fireworks so they can watch their cost-of-living raise go up in smoke.

Reason for bombing

THE REASON we dropped bombs on Japan was because they would not sign a peace treaty with us to end the war.