OpinionApril 21, 2009
Speak Out 4/21/09
Patrol complaint; Downtown parking; Saturation coverage; School treatment; Street ditches; Equal treatment; Your taxes at work; How great it is; Economic mess; More money; Taxes are the focus; Not political
Patrol complaint
I was driving down Kings-highway 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.
Saturation coverage
SIX times that many people show up for a monster truck competition at the Show Me Center and it doesn't get that kind of attention. The super-saturation coverage of Cape Girardeau's tea party protest by the Southeast Missourian makes one wonder when the Missourian became a subsidiary of Fox News and Rupert Murdoch.
School treatment
I am a Jackson public school alumnus and have always been proud of that. But after hearing what goes on at the elementary schools I am considering moving for my preschool-age son's sake. Children are not allowed to talk at lunch. Recess consists of walking a line. PE is less than an hour twice a week. How can we let our educators be so lazy? Let them be children. Let them get a physical education, or give them less homework so they can get their exercise at home. These are children, not convicts.
Street ditches
I think Jackson should take a good look at South Bellevue Street and do something about the ditches that are washing away our yards. The street should be paved. No one seems to care.
Equal treatment
I agree that it should not matter if a marriage between same-sex couples were legalized. I believe that it doesn't affect a marriage between a man or a woman and doesn't affect the state. Same-sex marriages should be legalized and treated the same as a union between a man and a woman. The times are different and if people are so confined to the past they will never grow with the future of our upcoming children. I have four children and one day could be faced with a gay or lesbian child, but that will never change the way I feel about my children. I will love and support them no matter what sexuality they are. I hope that our country see that this is and will be an ongoing thing. Let there be peace and love all around and not just with people they believe should have love and peace. We all deserve equality.
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Your taxes at work
SO many ironies abounded at Cape Girardeau's anti-tax tea party that space prohibits listing them all. Two quickies were that the rally was held at the beautiful, well-maintained but taxpayer-funded Capaha Park. The other was the rather large presence of a taxpayer-financed police force.
How great it is
I wish Americans would realize how great they have it. We complain way too much about everything and everyone. God forbid something doesn't go the way we think it ought to. Just be thankful for what you have, and be thankful you weren't born in a Third World country where your luxuries wouldn't exist.
Economic mess
I read Michael Jensen's column "Paying, and then some." I agree about people paying no tax getting a good chunk of money back as a refund. This is called the earned income tax credit. But Jensen is wrong to imply this started with President Obama. It has been part of the tax laws for years. Our economy is in a mess, but Obama did not start it. It was terrible long before he came to Washington. Actually, wealthy Republicans are the ones who got us in this mess. Lay off Obama. He's not perfect, but neither are the Republicans.
More money
PHILIPS Brown, my old economics professor at Southeast Missouri State University, has written a column in which he claims that the solution to our economic problems is to print more money. He must have missed Ben Bernanke's interview on "60 Minutes" in mid-March in which Bernanke said the Fed has pushed more than $1 trillion into the economy. I'm afraid that's not the simplest solution.
Taxes are the focus
I certainly agree with some of the opinions expressed at the tea party held at Capaha Park, but I certainly hope this doesn't become political. The event was well-presented, but please focus on tax issues.
Not political
I'M calling about the tea party held in Cape Girardeau. I attended the event to hear some of the comments by some of the speakers that were there, which I thought were good on some of the issues. But when David Limbaugh started his political tirade, I left. I do not want to hear anything about conservatives or liberals. I was there to hear about fair taxation.
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