SPEAK OUT

Other candidates

JAY KNUDTSON would make a wonderful mayor of Cape Girardeau. I applaud civic leaders for approaching him and asking that he consider running. I would also hope said leaders would approach some of the many qualified females and members of minority groups that reflect Cape's increasing mutilcultural diversity.

A distorted view

DO YOU die-hard Republicans in Southeast Missouri always live in La-La Land where you see things not as they are but as you wish them to be? It's absolutely amazing and so sad.

Don't generalize

I'M CALLING in response to the letter that says teachers do not get summers off because they work to support themselves because they do not make the $25,000 to $30,000 a year that one caller recently reported. I've taught seven years, and I make $29,000. I do not work in the summer. I stay home with my kids. I really think all of you who are talking about teachers' salaries and arguing need to realize that teachers' salaries are a matter of public record. You can go to any school board office at any school in the state and get their salary schedule. If I get a raise this year (which we don't know yet), I will be over $31,000. Each teacher's situation is different. Some people do get jobs in the summer for whatever reason. Some teachers make less because they haven't been teaching as long or because they haven't advanced their degrees. Some teachers work very hard for the money they make. Some teachers don't work very hard even between August and May. But you know what? All these generalizations are ridiculous.

Old-fashioned witch-hunt

MORLEY SWINGLE'S witch-hunt targeting of one-time public servant John Ferguson is reminiscent of 17th century Salem, Mass.

Let patients sue

I AM an avid supporter of the McCain version of the Patients Bill of Rights. I think all patients should have unrestricted access to courts in seeking redress for medical or any other illegal wrongs. HMOs are horrible hybrids spawned by Scrooge-like insurance companies and their congressional collaborators to hoodwink the American people as never before in U.S. history.

An enlightened nation

THE HISTORICAL record is clear. America was built on secular principles growing out of the Age of Enlightenment. Christianity is the predominant faith of our country, but we are not a nation built on Christian principles in the sense a Speak Out caller intended. And we are certainly not a Christian nation in the sense that we are governed by any sectarian faith. Separation of church and state is a hallmark of governance in the United States. It is a cornerstone of preserving our religious liberty. If you yearn for a theocracy, go to Yemen.

It's not constitutional

MY FRIEND Peter Kinder is a good conservative who believes in following the Constitution. Even if it's a good deal for the state to help get a new stadium built in St. Louis, I want my Kinder to show me in the Missouri Constitution what authorizes him to give $100 million to help a private group build a stadium for a private ball club. This is a thing that the Cardinals should do, and they should do it on their own.

Nursing isn't for men

TO THE comment about men getting into the nursing field: This will not happen because retirement packages are bad, because nurses work holidays and weekends without proper reimbursement and because the pay scale doesn't compare to factory and manual-labor jobs. If you want men in the nursing profession, you need to better the working conditions and the benefit packages. Ask the administrators how many of their children are in nursing and how many men from their family they are trying to get into nursing.

YOU'VE GOT to love those Democrats. They spend $100 million dollars on corporate welfare for the Cardinals, but they can't fund the schools here in Cape Girardeau. I guess that goes to show you the benefits of St. Louis always returning those Democrat votes and how that money gets spread around. I'm sure the state workers who got no raise this year are going to be surprised about this $100 million handout. I can understand why they didn't put it to a vote, because they knew it would fail miserably as nobody wants to provide this much welfare to rich corporations.

I DON'T want my hard-earned tax dollars paying for that St. Louis Cardinals stadium. And I also don't want my tax dollars paying for the inauguration that Gov. Bob Holden put on. I don't think our tax dollars should pay for that.

WHY DO people in Cape Girardeau need to shoot fireworks for 14 days? We have to worry about our houses burning down in addition to the noise and mess. If we must have fireworks, I think two days, July 3 and 4, are plenty.