Speak Out 4/14/10

Picking up trash

WHO is leading the program to pick up trash on the interstate? It looks like prisoners doing the work. Why not expand it to secondary roads and get county prisoners picking up trash on the county roads?

Meth madness

MORE meth arrests? Is the solution too simple? Oregon ranked in the top tier of meth-lab busts (Missouri leads the nation) until the state legislature passed a law requiring a doctor's prescription for any cold and other medicines containing pseudoephedrine. As a result, the bottom dropped out of Oregon's meth problem. One law enforcement official said he'd never seen a law have such a dramatic and effective result. Is the Missouri Legislature willing to continue to stigmatize our state by being No. 1 in meth madness?

Either Clinton

I hope President Obama will give serious consideration to appointing either of two extremely qualified candidates to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. I would be ecstatic with the nomination of either William Jefferson Clinton or Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Stolen hopes

SOMEONE stole my solar-powered radio and flashlight from my front lawn. These were gifts to me from my 4-year-old child for my birthday, and I was charging them for the first time on my lawn. My child was looking forward to seeing them work after the sun went down, only to be told that Daddy's gift was stolen. He did not understand this concept and was upset. I purchased replacements and had them shipped overnight so that he would not be upset over the loss of his gift to me. Whoever stole my gifts also stole the hopes and dreams of a 4-year-old child.

School priority

HOW do you reconcile the two? Missouri's top constitutional priority is public education. It is also our state government's top priority when it comes to cutting spending.

Health care supporter

SO 500 people e-mailed Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder in support of his lawsuit against the new federal health care law. I am a senior citizen and am proud to be one of the 1.1 million co-signers of the bill, and one of the 3 million who gave financial and volunteer support to get it passed.

No tears shed

I have tried but failed to be empathetic and shed at least one tear for the person who had a lousy $90,000 left after taxes and wanted us to feel sorry for him.