Speak Out 3/9/10

National bankruptcy

PRESIDENT Obama will run up a deficit this year of 10.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. The last time the deficit hit double digits as a percentage of GDP was 1945 when Germany and Japan surrendered. The U.S. won the Cold War without ever running a double-digit deficit. President Reagan bankrupted the Soviet Union, not the United States. President Obama will bankrupt the United States in a short time.

Eating out

WE love to eat out, but when we go to restaurants and end up saying that we would have had a better meal at home for a fraction of the cost, then we have second thoughts about eating out again. Nine times out 10 we are disappointed in the food. There are a few restaurants that always live to a high standard, but they are few and far between.

Small businesses

IF the government were serious about cutting waste, it would start with OSHA. Small businesses cannot succeed with Big Brother breathing down their necks, making up stupid rules no one can follow and slapping hefty fines on contractors already on the verge of bankruptcy. This is not the 1930s. We don't have sweat shops. Contractors are working side by side with their employees. Write your federal legislators and start complaining.

Our commitment

WE, too, have been married 50-plus years. Marriage to us was a commitment to each other and to our God.

Just one meal

I was surprised to read this in the article about school meals: "Since that's the only food they're getting that day, we should make those meals as healthy as possible." Are there children in our area who only eat one meal a day at school and have no other food?

Picking up trash

THANK you to the hospital employee picking up trash and cigarette butts at Southeast Missouri Hospital, We saw the smokers throw the trash on the ground -- and a trash can was 10 feet away, Then you had to pick up the trash and cigarette butts. You did a great job. Thanks.

Race to the top

BASED on what I have read, there should be no surprise in the fact that Missouri lost out in applying for federal Race to the Top funds for significant school improvement. Nowhere in Missouri's application was there a call for abolition of tenure, holding teachers accountable for student test scores and merit pay for the best instructors, three things more or less required in order to be in the running for the money for real school reform. This was too hot a political potato for Missouri bureaucrats and politicians to handle. Chalk up a victory for the opponents of significant reform and, sadly, a loss for Missouri students.

Green Dot

IT'S been one year since the announcement of the Green Dot program. The program was to have reduced the violence in Cape Girardeau according to the university, police chief and mayor. Looking at the police report one wonders about the effect this or any other program has had on crime in the city. The Green Dot program was funded by a grant of $495,820. When grants are given for these type of projects, does anyone check on results? Just where has the money been spent? Is there a Green Dot office with staff, or is it just someone filling out more grant applications? I think the Missourian should do a follow-up to this story.

Lasting marriage

GOOD grief. Someone is critical because a 50-year marriage is termed "marital endurance." I'm telling you, it is. If marriage were easy, everyone would be celebrating 50th wedding anniversaries. Marriage takes work, and most people today just won't work at it. I'll also tell you that you get out what you put in. A good marriage takes lots of work, lots of endurance, lots of patience, lots of sacrifice. And I wouldn't trade my marriage for anything.