Speak Out 3/9/05

Turnaround woes

TO THE drivers who visit the neighborhood near downtown Jackson: Please be more courteous when turning around in driveways. My car has been parked in my driveway and has been hit twice because of drivers using my driveway to turn around. Would it be such a waste of gas if you drove around the block instead? Some have even driven through my grass to turn around. It is becoming a big problem.

Open-mike night

A WORD of advice for the Cape Girardeau School Board: If you do not want your private conversations going public, be sure to cup your hand over the microphone when you are whispering negative remarks to your neighbor about the ideas of the people who are speaking. You can hear everything on the cable channel.

Time to speak up

THE U.S. Postal Service had three years to find a new spot for the Millersville post office. Now it is scrambling to find a new spot. Residents have heard the postal service wants to close it for good. Please speak out about this so we do not lose our post office.

Welcome home, 1140th

I WANT to say a special thanks to the 1140th Engineer Battalion for its service to us and our country. I drove by the armory when they came home, and it was a sight for sore eyes. There were flags, signs and all manner of emotions on display. It was awesome. I'm so glad our community put on such a great welcome home. We thank you, 1140th, so much for all you've done. God bless you and our country.

Fixing Medicaid

RECENTLY I visited an elderly friend who is dying of cancer. She had been sitting for some time unable to lift a bowl of chicken soup to her lips. She weighs approximately 80 pounds and cannot walk to the bathroom any longer. I was able to get her assistance through hospice paid for by Medicaid. I have no praise to offer the governor for his slash-and-burn attitude toward our elderly and disabled. And I reject the arguments of his supporters, like our own state Sen. Jason Crowell. Fixing Medicaid will require wisdom, courage and compassion. The governor's Medicaid proposal lacks all of the above.

Murky opinion

THE SOUTHEAST Missourian editorial on the U.S. Supreme Court's abolition of the death penalty for juveniles was mind-bogglingly murky. Perhaps it was intended that way. I can't figure out if you guys said the court made the right decision for the wrong reasons, the wrong decision for the wrong reasons or something altogether different. You just don't like the judicial branch -- at least when its decisions don't serve your purposes.

Dismissing science

USING BRAIN scan and other brain imaging techniques has incontrovertibly confirmed that the teen brain isn't completely developed, particularly those parts controlling impulsivity and risk taking. Thus, the attempt of The Wall Street Journal to dismiss science because its conclusions were at odds with a U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning juveniles is onerous. No court decision in recent memory confirms the superiority of an adaptable and flexible constitutional interpretation as opposed to the strict construction, original intent view.

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No basis for U.S. law

THE TEN Commandments are hardly a basis for law in this country, and this crusade to slap them on the wall of every public building has got to end. I'm sorry, but when only two of these laws coincide with U.S. law, it is unreasonable to expect people to simply put up with the other eight. The commandments clearly dictate serving only the Christian God and remembering the Jewish Sabbath, both contradictory to the Bill of Rights.

Community service

I SUSPECT the two candidates for city office in Cape Girardeau with felonies in their past may be a reflection that they long ago took to heart the idea of community service.

Picture said it all

THE PICTURE of the Seabaugh family that was on the front page was a prime example of the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." That picture told how happy they were to be together again after he was in Iraq for a year. God bless all of our military and their families. They all deserve a pat on the back.

Givers and takers

I HAVE a neighbor who isn't married but has two children by two different men. She lives with one of the fathers, who received a huge settlement a few years back and doesn't work. The mother of the children doesn't work either but receives Medicaid, welfare and WIC benefits. They live in a fairly new home, have newer model vehicles and a four wheeler. My wife and I, on the other hand, work full time, easily surpassing 90 hours a week, send our child to day care that costs $520 a month, pay for our own insurance and drive one newer model vehicle, while the other vehicle is an old clunker. Our house is more than 25 years old, and we pay full price for everything in life. We are both college educated and have been taught to work for what we want in life -- only to see our neighbors take everything they are given for granted and never give back.

Where's the caring?

AS A worker in a state whose pay is ranked 40th nationwide, I would give up my 1 percent raise to keep people who need in on Medicaid. Aren't the Republicans a Christian and caring group? That is what they said during the last election. Or do the use their religion when it suits them the best?

Out-of-date

WHY DO people keep making such a big deal out of the Ten Commandments? They are of questionable usefulness in today's real world. The same people who endorse the commandments will go ahead and kill people, even civilians, in Iraq. How do they explain it? In odd ways for sure, as they break their own rules. The truth is that real life is too complex for these simplistic Old Testament rules. Most people can't even figure out what the Eighth Commandment means. How much relevance does it have for today's world? The commandments are for a bunch of nomads wandering in the desert. You're going to have to think more than that in today's real world.

Cutting state services

GOV. MATT Blunt is proposing to strip our elderly and disabled population of their independence and dignity, something it took decades of work to secure. Medicaid means more to these groups than just a doctor's visit or pill bottle. Who gets it next, Governor? African Americans? Women? Blunt had best review the events in California last year. Recalls do happen.

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