Speak Out 4/26/06

Great explanation

THANK YOU, Dr. Michael Seabaugh, for your wonderful explanation of those of us from the Show Me State. Very well said. Run it again. Maybe not everybody got it.

No big deal

THE NEW gentlemen's club: big deal. I'm a woman, and I don't have a problem with it. If you don't like it, don't go. It's as simple as that. What's the big uproar? And why is there no uproar about the one three miles down the road?

Club for ladies?

HOW ABOUT this for a thought: What if the so-called gentlemen's club in East Cape Girardeau was going to be a ladies' club instead? Would residents, specifically the gentlemen, agree with that? Or would they protest it? Either way, I believe it is disgraceful for someone to bring a business of this nature into a community of elderly and families with young children.

Don't forget Juliet

I WAS rather disappointed when I read the review by Matt Sanders of the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Theatre and Dance's production of "Romeo and Juliet." His fixation in the article is solely based on the action that occurs before intermission. The play is "Romeo and Juliet," not "Romeo and the Verona Boys Club." Nothing was mentioned of the leading lady's character. There is much more to the story than a bunch of boys from Verona running around swinging swords. It is the classic love story that we all learned in high school. Had Sanders paid attention to the second half of the show, he would have realized that.

Another great show

THE YOUTHS at First General Baptist Church in Jackson have done it again. I didn't think they could top the Hee Haw show from last year, but they did it. They totally blew the crowd away Saturday night at their 1950s diner dinner theater. Thank you all for a wonderful show and all the great work you guys are doing. Keep it up. I'm excited to see what you all will dream up for next year.

Military action

FIFTY-FOUR PERCENT of respondents to the Southeast Missourian online poll support some form of military action against Iran. I guess the anti-war crowd remains a minority in Southeast Missouri, contrary to what their most outspoken supporters continue to tell us.

Democratic credit

A RECENT caller said Democrats made this country what it is. That's true. Democrats cut the military, cut the CIA and fled from the fight in Somalia, all of which emboldened terrorists. Democrats allowed the USS Cole bombers and their supporters to go virtually untouched other than a few cruise missiles. Democrats authorized domestic Internet spying without a warrant so they could look into our homes but failed to take the al-Qaida threat seriously. Democrats bogged us down in Bosnia for 10 years and offered no exit strategy. Democrats failed to vigorously pursue alternative fuel sources. Democrats have made this country -- or at least made the mess we're in.

Poll results

THANK YOU, Southeast Missourian, for giving me the proof I needed to combat the overblown anti-war crowd in the area. I keep hearing about how tired we are of war and how the American taxpayers and voters won't support a warmongering president. Yet the results of the poll asking your readers if they supported military action against Iran and 54 percent supported some form of military action. I guess there is a trustworthy print media source out there after all.

Giving credit

IT AMAZES me that no one credited President Bush when gasoline prices dropped to $1.90 a gallon, but they sure are quick to say it's his fault when prices jump to $2.90. It amazes me that no one criticizes Democrats who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Iraq war, but only President Bush gets criticized. It amazes me that we have the strongest economy we've had in 10 years, but no one wants to give President Bush credit.

Yard-sign crackdown

THANK YOU to Mayor Tim Porch for cracking down on eyesores in Scott City. One of the biggest problems brought up to Norman Brant was people leaving yard sale signs long after the sale was over. Why doesn't the city fine those who leave the signs? The addresses are on the signs that are left.

Economic reality

THIS IS in regard to the front page article regarding the high cost of utilities and the elderly couple who were hanging their wash on the line. I don't understand what the reporter was attempting to convey. Hanging wash on the line is wonderful. It's better for the fabric, and it smells great. I don't view the need to do so as dealing with adversity. Let's do some serious reporting involving why most people who are in economically dire straits don't have a safety net to accommodate for fluctuations in market prices. Living with the "fixed income" mentality doesn't work in this day and age and I doubt that it ever did. Our public education system has done a disservice to multiple generations of students in not educating them on basic economics and planning ahead for retirement or plain and simple market forces such as the high rising utility and gasoline prices.

Safer world

THE CHANCE of a worldwide nuclear war today is zero. Gone are the days of U.S.-Soviet mutually assured destruction. The possibility of the annihilation of the planet has ended. As a result, the world today is a much safer place in which to live.

Professional theater

HERE'S TO the Weller-Stilsons. Since Rhonda and Ken arrived, the quality of the productions at the Rose Theatre have gone from amateur to professional. "Romeo and Juliet" is great. The costumes are to die for.