SPEAK OUT

Goodbye, Republicans

TO THE reader who wants Rosie and Alex to leave the country: In my opinion it's the Republicans who should leave. They are trying to make this country a dictatorship with their money doing the talking. They are so power hungry they cannot even allow a legal procedure to take place. They stop a legal hand count by any means possible because they know they did not win by a majority vote by lawful means.

Both sides of mouth

AL GORE's mantra all through this election has been "Count every vote and every vote counts." But then Gore tried to get 15,000 absentee votes and military votes thrown out in Seminole County, Fla. Talk about speaking from both sides of his mouth. This man Gore is not fit to be president of our great country. We sure don't need more liars for president. Clinton and Gore are of the same stripe.

They were certified

WE ALL know that every time the Florida ballots are handled, even if they are handled with the utmost care and by careful people, a few things change. If anybody is not being careful and is using the ballots as a fan and bending them and folding them or messing with them, things change drastically. The first count is the most accurate count because the ballot has been messed with the least at that time. We need to go with the first count. After the election was certified by the Florida secretary of state, she certified the 25 electors to the Electoral College. It is over. They have been certified.

Fountain, then parking

IT IS amazing at the number of cars parked around the University. The university could build a fountain but not a parking lot.

Money is the reason

PLEASE DON'T be so hard on Alex Baldwin. Like quite a few of the other Hollywood actors and singers, he is the big L word: liberal. It's the same from Barbra Streisand clear down here to Sheryl Crow. So don't be hard on them if they are just a little misguided. All that money must have gone to their heads.

Time to come down

I THINK the harm in letting the Marquette Hotel stand is the same as leaving any old property in your neighborhood to stand. I would venture to say the old hotel probably has lots of rats and whatever else living in empty old buildings that aren't taken care of. Usually when you have a piece of property like that and you want to be successful, you tear it down. There haven't been any buyers in the last three to four years, so it's time to take it down.

Good game announcing

IT WAS really great hearing Eric Shawn on the radio, doing the play-by-play of Southeast Missouri State vs. SIU. His exciting style and knowledge of the game make you feel as if you are really there. We hope he does more games in the future.

Special thank you

I WANT to thank the nice lady at Schnucks who paid for another lady's groceries when she didn't have any money. She deserves a special thank you.

Grasping for power

THIS ELECTION has two reasons for being so traumatic. One, Al Gore is a power-control addict and wants to retain control of the government. Two, anyone remembering back through the past eight years and anyone who ever read about autocratic power control in Russia, Germany and other countries and can remember World War II can see clearly that Gore is following in Clinton's path and Hillary's fanatic visions of power. Anyone should know that this election battle is an insurgency attempt by Gore to retain power.

Lots of choices

I DON'T know who it is who can tie almost anything in Speak Out to the abortion issue, but it's really tiring. The latest illustration is tying the chad situation to abortion. People, refocus your thinking. This is America. There are a lot of choices. Get over it.

Much at stake

FIFTY-NINE years ago, America was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. In Florida, America is being attacked by the Gore thugs. I remember President Roosevelt telling us in 1941, "This day will go down in infamy." I was 18 years old. This election being fought in Florida is another day of infamy. Freedom and liberty must win out. Our country is at stake.