Speak Out 4/5/13

Enforcing laws

It's a pathetic state of affairs we live in. Our governor signed a bill in 2009 to prevent Missourians from having their private information transmitted. Now, the Department of Revenue is selling out Missourians to defense contractors and DHS in clear sight, yet those who passed the law won't enforce it. Yet people have the nerve to tell us we need more gun control laws. What makes you think they would enforce those laws?

Limbaugh column

It's difficult to discern why it seems to just now be dawning on David Limbaugh that the Republican Party is in danger of cracking up. To me, that's been the case for decades. The one thing that held social, fiscal and libertarian Republicans together for so long was their fierce anti-communism. That threat virtually disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.

Litter issue

I have noticed a growing problem in Cape: plastic bags littering our neighborhoods and roads. This problem seems to have become worse since we started having our recycling picked up by the trucks. The plastic bags are loose in the recycling bins and tend to fly out before ever reaching the truck. Then they become litter instead of being recycled. Please, if you put plastic bags in your recycling bin, make sure you put them in something so they cannot fly out and become litter. Or maybe the city should ban plastic bags altogether; many cities do.

Bus stops

Shelters for the bus stops for the city's public transportation makes more sense than a dog park.

Sports headline

Reading the sports section of the local paper on March 25, the headline of an article about college basketball was "Buckeyes gun down Cyclones." Really? With all the recent school shootings and debates over gun control, that is the headline you chose to print?

Dress code

The dress code should be the No. 1 priority of school boards because, as the old saying goes, clothes make the student.

Marriage definition

If you look up the definition of marriage in a dictionary you will first find this definition: The social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc. But now in addition to this there's another (b) definition and it states: A similar institution involving partners of the same gender: gay marriage. You notice, it says similar. So now we can change the definition of a word to suit our own needs or agenda? There needs to be a new word for what signifies a "gay" marriage. What would you suggest it be named? As much as the politically correct and gay/lesbian community wants the definition of marriage to be exactly the same for them as it is for a man and a women, it will never be. I don't think the definition in the Bible will ever change, and that is what I go by.

Biden's trip

Vice President Joe Biden's entourage racked up nearly $1 million in hotel bills in Europe last month, and a new report says a night in Paris added limo costs of $321,000. This is from an administration that wants the public to "feel the pain" of cutbacks by canceling White House tours because of the sequester. And they say they are sorry for this? Regret? The closure remains what it was from the start: a calculated scheme to inflict pain on the public, including schoolchildren, to pressure Republicans to restore the cuts. You understand, we are the little people who they take the money from so they can live like kings.

Driving problem

To all of the people pulling out of the back of Culver's parking lot in Cape: There is no circumstance where you have the right of way when pulling out of a parking lot onto a city street. Please stop cutting me off. You have to yield to the traffic on the street. It's common sense.

March basketball

I agree with the ESPN commentator who said the quality of play during March Madness has generally been "abysmal."

SI swimsuit edition

I completely agree with the person's comment about the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. That magazine should only be kept behind the counter so children can't see it. It is a form of porn and should not be displayed as if it was a copy of Women's Day.