OpinionMarch 21, 2007
Speak Out 3/21/07
Green exit signs; Unpatriotic points; We must be fools; Illegals in the field; Dying breed?; Blame River Campus; Same treatment; Unpardonable act; Double jeopardy; Complete pullout; Tremendous talent; Is it sour grapes?; Best neighbors; Overlooked faults
Green exit signs
I WAS walking by the new federal building and could see the red exit lights shining through the atrium glass. I read that red exit lights are being replaced with green-lighted exit signs, because you can see them better in smoke-filled rooms, and green means go. Even the Missourian building has updated its exit signs to green.
Unpatriotic points
I WATCHED "Meet the Press" and saw Tom DeLay state the talking point of the Republican Party: If you don't agree with us, then you are not a patriot. I am a patriot, I served my country during wartime, I took my oath seriously, and I will continue to hold that oath as serious. DeLay never served in the military. He is unpatriotic when he wants others to die for him without any in his family participating in the military. If you are a supporter of DeLay and the Republican Party talking points, you don't deserve the freedoms you have been given.
We must be fools
WHEN AN issue arises and the administration changes its story every day, it is lying about something and hiding facts. This administration has been telling us falsehoods from day one and is still playing us for fools. Are we fools? We must be, because over a third of the population still believes the administration.
Illegals in the field
I DISAGREE with the suggestion to use prisoners to do field work. I think we should continue to use illegal aliens.
Dying breed?
REPUBLICANS HAVE a lot of work to do before they can gain back the trust of the American people. I think the country will elect a Democrat in 2008 for president, as we should. I am proud also to see that Democrats are making progress in both houses of Congress. They are a breath of fresh air. I hope it is a glimpse of things to come. Get it together, Republicans, or you may be a dying breed.
Blame River Campus
WHEN SOUTHEAST Missouri State University students pay higher tuition and SEMO faculty salaries and benefits continue to lag behind national averages, we can thank president Ken Dobbins and the local leaders and downtown property owners who engineered the white elephant known as the River Campus.
Same treatment
SHAME ON MSHSAA if it doesn't crack down on Leopold for its relaxed border enforcement. If Derek Urhahn doesn't get the same treatment that Bell City and Naylor received from MSHSAA, we'll know why: His brother Kerwin is running the show in Columbia. If that happens and Leopold gets off easy, Kerwin Urhahn should be forced to resign immediately,
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Unpardonable act
FOR MESSING with MOHELA when he shouldn't have, state Sen. Jason Crowell has committed an unpardonable act that may lead to the need for Southeast Missouri State University students to fork over the bucks for the financing of the River Campus. Crowell's apparent inability to think through the consequences of what he initiated is beyond comprehension.
Double jeopardy
SOUNDS TO me like the students at Southeast Missouri State University will be paying for the new arts campus either way. If the school gets the money from MOHELA, the students lose out on grant money or lower interest rates on student loans. If it don't get the money from MOHELA, SEMO will raise tuition. Sounds like win-win for the school and lose-lose for the students, especially the middle class and the poor.
Complete pullout
IN THE time we've been in Iraq, more than 3,000 U.S. servicemembers have lost their lives. In that same time frame, more than 1,900 servicemembers have lost their lives in other conflicts, training accidents and car wrecks. All loss of human life is sad, but let's keep the deaths in Iraq in perspective. If you want us out of Iraq, get us out of Bosnia, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Afghanistan, Columbia, Guatemala and Panama.
Tremendous talent
LIESL SCHOENBERGER'S performance with the great Mike Rennick band St. Patrick's Day evening leaves no doubt. She is one of the greatest and most diversified musical performers to come from this area. Liesl has already made so many people proud. I'm sure that as a result of her future success an ever-widening audience will appreciate Liesl's tremendous talent.
Is it sour grapes?
SHAME ON the people who wrote anonymous letters concerning students attending Leopold school who might not reside in that district. Why did they not come out in the open about it? This makes it sound a little like sour grapes, doesn't it?
Best neighbors
IN A city in Illinois, residents made a huge outcry about the proposal to have one of the old, lovely homes (two houses from ours) turned into a group home for mentally disabled people who were competent enough to live outside a mental institution but not enough to live on their own. Despite the not-in-my-back-yard attitude, the home won. These were some of the best neighbors we ever had. Many of them rode the same bus to the sheltered workshop as I took to work. "There goes the neighborhood" didn't happen. I felt blessed to see these people living halfway normally, feeling good about themselves and trying to do their best with the lives they had.
Overlooked faults
"A LITTLE history would include the firing by President Clinton of 93 of 94 Republican U.S. attorneys two months after he was sworn in as president." Thank you for that, Gary Rust. Because Clinton was such a charismatic person (although I either never saw that or else I was able to see through it), people tended to overlook many of his faults, bad decisions and lack of leadership.
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