Speak Out 5/18/09

Federal budget

MY family is in debt. We owe on the money we've borrowed. We have a budget where we earn about $50,000 and spend about $100,000. After a few years of spending twice as much as we earn, what will happen? The bank will stop my credit. It is not only my family, but also my country that is doing the same thing. My country is budgeting to spend twice as much as it earns, and it has a habit of spending even more than it budgets. In just a few years this will not work out. Our country will go bankrupt. We need to balance the federal budget now.

Cap and trade

A Rasmussen poll recently revealed that just 24 percent of Americans know what "cap and trade" is. It's a $600 billion energy and production tax that will be sold by Democrats to Americans as a cure for a problem that we as country don't have: global warming. Cap and trade is a tax, a big one, that all Americans, not just the rich, will have to pay. Educate yourself, and don't let them do this to us.

Children or dogs?

THE reader who does not want anyone to bring dogs to playgrounds doesn't realize what effect a child screaming in a restaurant or throwing a fit in a store has on everyone else. There is nothing more annoying than to be somewhere that parents do not take control and remove their child in this situation.

Case for control

YOUR online video, "Jungle Walk: Machine gun fun," an event recently staged in Sikeston and featuring Southeast Missourian reporter Brian Blackwell is, though surely unintentionally, the best argument I've ever seen for gun control.

Before it's too late

IT is time we bring God into first place in the lives of the people. Bring back the prayer in schools and everywhere we prayed before. Stop listening to the atheists and gays. We are seeing what has been sowed. The country is in bad shape with the economy, storms and flooding. We need to look to God's help. Help the people get their lives back in order.

Going too far

THE widely hailed "Hurrah for Hyperbole!" award for May goes to Jon Rust for his question, "What kind of [federal] government do we have?" and apparent answer that the government will be historically determined to be a bad one solely on the basis of approving a homeless shelter in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Parenting at school

SOMEONE said that teachers know best in the classroom. Why is it they teach my child morals and values opposite of those taught in my home? Why is it they get to decide what my child is old enough to know, to read, to experience? I've got love for teachers, but at some point they need to keep that classroom a classroom and leave parenting to the parents. I think we know what's best in the home, and it's awfully hard to parent when teachers undermine us.

Academic success

I'M a longtime teacher, and I am still unsure as to what is the best technique for guaranteeing academic success. The reason for this is that after all these years, those who study the nature of learning are still pretty much clueless. No one has THE answer.

Necessary laws

FEDERAL hate-crime legislation is necessary because state and local law enforcement officials in some parts of the country still drag their feet when it comes to crimes against minorities, gays and others.

Dropping the ball

WITH all the scrambling around in an attempt to stop a homeless shelter in Cape Girardeau's old federal building, one thing seems obvious. In my opinion, there were absolutely no contingency plans for what to do should the Rev. Larry Rice make such a request. Given Rice's widely known track record, pre-emptive prevention of what should have been known was coming could have been the order of the day. Who dropped the ball?

Thanks for help

I want to thank the young couple that stopped and asked if my sister needed help loading my electric wheelchair. The young couple was kind, and the young man stayed with us until the chair was loaded. Thanks again for your help and kindness.

Scott City trash

THUMBS UP to Scott City City Hall's decision to charge a $50 deposit for extra trash cans. If you drive around Scott City, you'll see most tenants don't care about their trash containers because they come with the service. Most of the trash containers get run over because renters don't care. It is just about time that people started getting tickets for trash in an effort to keep this city clean. I lived in Scott City for five years without any problem with trash.

Rice's record

AS a Christian, I am all for helping the needy. However, the Rev. Larry Rice's previous endeavors have shown a precedent for breaking the rules. Even Jesus himself followed the rules. I also read that Rice threatened to sue if he doesn't get the old federal building. I think it would do Rice good to look up the Bible verse that tells us not to sue our brother. You can't bring the love of Christ by doing things like everyone else in the world.

Hate-crime laws

AS many have pointed out ever since the first hate-crime legislation passed years ago, a crime is a crime regardless of the reason for it. This is another feel-good effort aimed at targeting certain groups of people in order to garner more support at election time. There have been instances where a person has been charged with hate crime even though the fact that the victim was in a certain protected group was not at all a consideration in the crime itself.

Doing the chores

I feel so sorry for the teacher who had to come home after working hard all day in the school and clean for her family and cook and all that stuff. She didn't get to bed until about 10 p.m. Guess what? I come home from work after working hard all day and mow the yard, cook supper, do the dishes, do the laundry and go to bed about 10:30 or 11 p.m. I don't complain. I do that 12 months out of the year for about $22,000 a year.

Airport spending

I read in the paper recently where Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is getting some stimulus money. I also saw where our U.S. representative had some earmarks for the regional airport. There are so few people who fly out of Cape Girardeau, I was wondering if someone could figure up how much we're spending per passenger out of Cape Girardeau. It seems to me the money could be better spent on things people actually use.

Ridiculous idea

ALL this talk about a homeless shelter on Broadway is one of the most ridiculous ideas I've heard as far as destroying that part of town.

Downtown's demise

I have mixed feelings about the proposed homeless shelter on Broadway. Ideally, it should probably be in a part of town where you wouldn't see it. On the other hand, what will downtown become? Our downtown already has a shop where you can buy pot paraphernalia and a porno store in the back and a tacky lingerie shop in the front. Why can't you make room for the homeless?

Media monopolies

I agree that we need media ownership caps and an opening of the airwaves. One of the greatest dangers to a free society is monopolies. When I was in school we learned about monopolies. I wonder how much students are learning about them now. One of Dad's biggest concerns was how the media were being taken over by conglomerates. I'm glad the Southeast Missourian is surviving, but some newspapers have gotten way out of hand. The Southeast Missourian has the most incredible freedom of expression, and that is Speak Out. All newspapers across America should have this, as far as I'm concerned. It's a wonderful thing. Monopolies are hurting America whether people realize it or not. It's going to be too late one day. They wield too much power.

Working for college

I don't know a lot of people who were "lucky enough" to go to college. I went to college as a nontraditional student. I had to work full time. My wife had to work full time while I was going to college, and we had two children. I didn't feel too lucky. I felt like I had to work for it. Everyone has an opportunity, if they want, to go to college. All they have to do is work for it. Work is the key.

Move SS back

SEN. Kit Bond and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson should see that the Social Security office is moved back into the federal building on Broadway. They could block the funds for the new building for Social Security. They should block this homeless proposal for good. People in this town do not want this homeless center on the main street of our town. There's no reason for the Social Security to have a new building when we've got the old federal building.

Bikes on roadways

IN regard to the comment about drivers being more tolerant of alternative transportation, meaning bicycles on the roadway: We would be more tolerant if the bicyclists obeyed all of the traffic laws that automobiles are required to obey, such as not going through red lights and not making a left turn at a red light. They zip in and out of traffic, they ride four, five, six abreast so that you have to stop to get around them. If they want to use our roadways, that's fine, but they should follow the same traffic laws. They should have to be licensed to drive on the roadways just as a motorist has to be licensed.

Perils of good care

IN the debate over health-care costs, nobody mentions the one factor that drives the increases: Good health care leads to the need for more good health care. People who in years past would have died of severe injury or illnesses now survive. However, they aren't always healthy again, and many exist in a physically or medically crippled state that requires medication, therapy and other ongoing medical expenditures. Good health care has caused the average American life span to far exceed that of any other generation in the history of the world. With old age comes chronic, debilitating medical diseases that require treatment. Nobody speaks to the fact that it's expected in a population that's increasingly elderly that this population will require more health care to remain functional and happy.