Speak Out 4/20/09

Moving the cross

THIS is a thank you to Scott Rhodes and all involved with moving the cross through Cape Girardeau. It was beautiful. It was a good reminder of what the holy day was all about.

No stadium

GIVE it up. No one's going to vote for a stadium at Central High School when we have facilities in our city. It won't happen. More classrooms, yes. Auditorium, yes. Stadium, forget it. And don't give us that line that you can only play on Thursday night.

Not with my taxes

SO many people don't get it. We're not going to pay for a football field with tax dollars. I'm so sick and tired of schools wanting more money. The district built the high school and didn't have enough money to furnish it. This is ridiculous. I am so upset to see that this even being considered.

No identity

IT would be good for Central High School to have a stadium, I'll be glad if they get it. However, I don't think it will create a sense of identity for the school. The school has a wonderful identity. This discussion reminds me of the changing of the Southeast Missouri State University mascot to the Redhawks. They did it for sake of identity, and I think that was the worst thing they ever did.

Taxpayers pay

"GOVERNMENT loan" is a misnomer that the news media should correct. It's a taxpayer loan with government permission without the taxpayers' approval. All government spending is taxpayer money or borrowed money. The news media are setting the people up to accept this when they don't even realize what is happening or don't care.

Hostage released

LIKE so many other Americans, I am so thankful that the captain that the Somalian pirates was holding was released. I am so thankful that his family's prayers have been answered. I would like to give President Obama credit for giving the order to let the SEALs do what needed to be done.

Giving up TV

I, too, am fighting to keep my home, but I don't buy things that I don't need. I thought I would be able to survive with Social Security and a little interest from savings, but I am one of the people they refer to as falling through the cracks. My income is just enough to not qualify for much help. My TV and antenna are 31 years old. I can't afford a new one or cable. So I'll soon have no TV.

Good egg hunt

I would just like to commend Schnucks and the sponsors for the Easter egg hunt at the Osage Community Centre. I thought it was well-organized and wonderfully set up. It allowed the 2- and 3-year-olds be in a hunt together. It was set up so everyone got eggs and snacks.

Bring the children

I know this is late, but the content matter has weighed heavily on my mind since reading Speak Out a few weeks ago. I have had some time to think about it, and now it is time to speak. Regarding small children who might cry during church service: Church is the house of God. No one is entitled to say who may or may not enter his house or who may or may not be welcome in his home. In the words of Jesus, "Bring the children to me." I would imagine that his words carry over to the church.

Military fallout

WHAT amounted to little more than a fizzled fireworks display by North Korea prompted a Speak Out comment to fulminate against the U.S. and call it a paper tiger for not retaliating militarily, something that would have led to a North Korean invasion of South Korea and World War III. This is likely revealing of the militaristic mindset of one who never engaged in military service.

Out-of-state licenses

I do not understand why the Jackson Police Department does not step up to the plate and take charge. We have people driving with out-of-state plates for a year or more. Why can't the police department enforce the law?

Radical agenda

A recent comment fretted about the "willful ignorance" of global warming deniers and threw out the usual hysterical rantings that alarmists have used successfully in the past. I'm not a denier, I'm a skeptic, and you would be skeptical too if you took off your blinders and read what climate scientists are saying. Hundreds of scientists are on record saying the threats of anthropogenic global warming are overblown. Upon careful examination you will find the people driving the climate change myth are really pushing for a huge redistribution of wealth, but they can't do it by themselves. They need the willful ignorance of a populace willing to give up their rights and sovereignty to support a radical political agenda.

Rand's philosophy

THOUGH not an Ayn Rand scholar by any means, I've struggled through enough of her writings to understand that her philosophy of objectivism in practice benefits all who deserve it and in no way precludes helping others. Those who haven't grasped this, and I will admit it is difficult to wrap one's mind around, need to read more than just her fiction works. Rand was an extraordinary woman whose ideas were largely born from what she recognized in her Russian homeland as a political system that would ultimately destroy the best in man -- a political system we incrementally drift toward with each new administration.

Confused protesters

FROM what I could see of the people at the tea party protest in Cape Girardeau, most looked liked people on Social Security or welfare. This was not a tax protest but a protest against President Obama. I think they are confused. It is the Republican Party that wants to do away with Social Security and welfare.

Skateboard park

AFTER moving to this area from Columbia, Mo., I was surprised that in a university city there was little for my two sons to do except get into trouble. My sons love to skateboard, and with no skateboard park, they and every skateboarder resorted to any and all paved areas. They had run-ins with the law due to ordinances that fined and criminalized them. How many teens know the ordinances? The population of Cape Girardeau is more than 37,000, and in the past few years we finally got a small skatepark made out of wood. The population of Farmington is 16,000, and skate park there is made out of concrete. On the Internet I found cities with smaller populations building larger skateboard parks. What does that say about this city? I recently heard our mayor state he felt Cape Girardeau could support a minor-league baseball team. A city this size should spend more money on young people.

Co-opted protest

YOUR editorial promoting the tea party protest missed the main story. Big spending Republicans are attempting to co-opt the movement from Libertarians who have consistently, if wrongly, opposed virtually all taxes and spending. I don't blame the Libertarians for being furious.

Jeopardized economy

AMERICAN consumer spending has all but dried up. Economists on the left and right agree that if the government stopped spending, the bad economic situation would get worse. Congress is spending money in order to lessen the effects of an economy wrongly deregulated by the two previous administrations to the point that the mixed economy of regulated capitalism is jeopardized. Most Americans get this.

Paying my way

I'VE been disabled for a while and have worked most of the time I've been disabled and earned enough to buy my groceries and pay $100 a month on my Medicaid. The previous governor stopped that and made me choose between having Medicaid or working. I had to go on food stamps. Tell me where the logic is in this. I was paying my own way somewhat, and that was taken away. Please help, Gov. Jay Nixon.

Keep it up

STATE Sen. Jason Crowell is not backing down. You go for it, Jason. You are a man for the people. Ameren is trying to build a nuclear plant, and the company wants us to pay for it in advance. Get real. Thank you, Jason. Keep up the good work.

Uncaring government

OSHA'S back fining contractors who are trying to make a living. It shows that the federal government couldn't care less about the working man. People have to stand up to these paper pushers. Call or write your federal legislators. Let the government know we've had enough and we're not going to take it anymore.

Vicious dogs

I witnessed something scary in our neighborhood on Washington Avenue. I saw a woman out with her little dog. Some other dogs next door broke out of a fence and attacked her little dog and killed it. They also went after the woman as she was trying to get her dog away from them. There's nothing anybody could do. What if a child had been out there? Something needs to be done about these dogs. They're vicious.

Patrol complaint

I was driving down Kingshighway when a highway patrolman cut into my lane and almost clipped the front of my car. I had to slam on my brakes, and the woman behind me slammed on her brakes. The patrolman didn't signal. I honked my horn, but he didn't acknowledge that he saw me. Just a little bit further down the road, another car careened across two lanes of traffic into the turn lane right in front of the patrolman, who did nothing. I called the highway patrol office and spoke to a supervisor. I gave him the license plate number of the patrolman and described what he had done. The supervisor said that his officers aren't perfect and make mistakes.

Downtown parking

PLEASE enforce the two-hour parking limit on Spanish and Main streets. The people who own and work in the stores park there from morning to night. Let someone who wants to shop downtown have a place to park.