SPEAK OUT

Abortion solution

I AGREE 100 percent with the recent comment that abortion is a preventable phenomenon. So let's start preventing it. Let's demolish the objectification of women that occurs in our society. Let's teach men and boys that women are not there for them to use. Let's tell girls and young women that it's OK to say no. Let's lock up rapists and sex offenders for life on the first offense. Let's promote family planning. Let's put more money into researching safe, reliable birth control and then make that birth control accessible and affordable. Do these things, and I can practically guarantee that abortions will be rendered unnecessary and obsolete. Until then, though, we must keep abortions safe and legal.

Shortsighted power

I DO not object to the company that is wanting to bring a power plant to our community. We need the jobs and will need the power as our area grows. The people who are objecting obviously do not care about the community as a whole, nor do they care about the future needs of the area's children. Those who are complaining about a power plant building here should remove themselves from the power grid. After all, they do not see the need for it.

Movie critic

SYNDICATED COLUMNIST Kathleen Parker really clobbered the movie "The Fast and the Furious." In essence, she wrote that the movie was a cheap, exploitative flick designed in part to get teens all frenetic about fast cars and drag racing. I'm a middle-aged man, and I thought the movie rocked. In addition, I thought Parker missed the whole point of the film. On the surface, it was about fast women and fast cars but beneath was what I thought an obvious metaphorical statement on the inevitable tension between liberty and the need for law and order. The FBI, local cops and train-crossing sign featured in the film, were symbols of the attempt of government to regulate lives for safety and the common good. On the other hand, the drag racing and hot cars stood for the inherent desire for maximum liberty.

Inspired opinion

THE SOUTHEAST Missourian editorial endorsing the plan for a new stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals was the most inspiring and accurate opinion piece I've ever read.

Filegate Revisited

Cape County has a juicy Filegate

almost like Clinton's Washington.

The combatants are first rate:

Swingle versus Ferguson.

We miss Bill

FOR THE record, here is one Democrat who wishes Bill Clinton were still in office. I did not approve of what he did with his personal life, but that is none of my business. I did approve of his vision for this country and our world. He had a brain. Right now that seems to be a rare commodity. This feeling is held not only by Democrats, but also by some Republicans and Independents.

Not good stewards

I THINK it's very nice that a caller trusts God to clean up pollution and stop global warming. The problem is that God gave us his world, and we are not taking care of it. We should be conscious of what we were given and be good stewards of our gift, not wasteful, destructive and greedy. I believe global warming is God's way of telling us that we are not taking care of what he has given us and instead are destroying his creation for our own benefit.

Not teaching manners

IS IT just me, or are parents these days allowing their toddlers and young children to get away with obnoxious behavior that parents of previous generations never would have tolerated? Why have parents stopped teaching their children how to behave properly in public? I'm in my mid-20s, and I know I was never as bad as some of these unbelievable brats I see wreaking havoc in restaurants, shops and other public places. My parents never would have allowed me to misbehave so flagrantly.

THE POLITICALLY motivated threat to prosecute former Cape Girardeau County public administrator John Ferguson was so outrageous it would have made Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy wince.

Twice-baked crow

SCOTT CITY resident Phil Patterson referred to having seen "a billboard ... that sells some kind of thrown bread" and "is inexplicably turned upside down." It got his attention, didn't it? The billboard was an advertisement for one of Southeast Missouri's many success stories, Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Throwed Rolls. He should go to Sikeston, have some free fried okra, a throwed roll or two and, as penance for his oversight, top it off with some twice-baked crow.

Re-election forecast

IN ALL of history, No re-elected governor of a state who was elected president has ever failed to be re-elected president. George W. Bush was the only governor of Texas to be re-elected. If the trend continues (and it will), he will be re-elected president. And before you try the old "No president who has ever lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College has been re-elected president" argument, can you say "Thomas Jefferson"?

Need health care

WE DESERVE a better health-care system. If you believe the people are the servants of the government instead of the government's being the servant of the people, you should read the U.S. Constitution. America is the only civilized country without a national health-care plan. This is shameful and without regard for family values I hear spoken of (but not practiced) so often.

Sound like Democrats

THANK GOD for a ray of hope. More and more Republican congressmen are beginning to talk more and more like Democrats: need to protect the environment, require auto-makers to produce more fuel-efficient engines, direct more attention to global warming.

Flower power

THOSE WHO graduated from Central High School in the 1960s will soon be descending on Cape Girardeau for a class reunion. Citizens should not be unduly alarmed. Any demonstrations and protests taking place will be peaceful and in accordance with the law. The reunion will be a weekend of peace and love. For those of you who live far away, read Speak Out online and plan to attend the reunion, I would like to remind you that if you're coming to Cape Girardeau, be sure and wear some flowers in your hair.

None of those either

I WANT to applaud the Speak Out caller who said, "If all dads were like Gary Rust, there would be much less juvenile delinquency." Amen. In addition, I might add that if all dads were like Gary Rust there would be no Democrats.