Speak Out 5/2/12

Cardinals radio

I wanted to agree with a previous caller who was complaining about the radio station coverage of St. Louis Cardinals baseball games. I live in Scott City, and a lot of times I can't get them at home and sometimes I can't even get them when I am in my car going through town. They need to pick a different station or that station needs to pick up the ball and run.

Charter schools

Remember when charter schools were all the rage? These are schools funded by the taxpayers but run by private, for-profit concerns. They all pledged to be the answer to raising low student test scores. Missouri has just shut down a bunch of them, in part because rather than boosting student test scores, their scores were at or near the bottom. Free market, privatization ideologues who claimed these schools would be the solution are said to be in shock.

Whistle-blowers

I'm not surprised. Missouri Republican legislators want to limit the legal protection afforded so-called whistle-blowers who go public with allegations that their employer is up to no good.

Rush Limbaugh

The only reason Rush Limbaugh was right about the growing racial divide is because he is helping to perpetuate it. Shut him and his like up and watch the healing finally begin.

Food stamps

A caller recently tried to demean those on welfare and SSI by stating that you can always tell when it's the second week of the month because they try to sell you their food stamps. Clearly, this caller doesn't know how it works. There are no more actual "stamps" to sell. It is all electronic and on EBT cards, kind of like a debit card. Why are you trying so hard to stir the pot?

Monsieur Romney

Mitt Romney recently took some time to publicly reminisce about his vacations in Paris. It was delightful to listen to his remarks and makes me more determined than ever to campaign and vote for Monsieur Romney.

Diverting attention

According to the administration, I am supposed to be more angry with what Mitt Romney does with his money than what Barack Obama does with mine. This is their way of diverting people's attention away from what they are getting away with.

GOP vision

Republican John Huntsman has blasted Mitt Romney and the Republican Party for not offering a vision for America. I disagree. I think they do offer a vision, and it is a very dystopian one.

Gas prices

A recent Speak Out comment addressed the issue of high gas prices and stated that the president was not responsible (except for Bush of course) and that the real culprits were the oil companies, speculators and Republican congressmen. I seem to have forgotten that gas prices have doubled since Bush left office, but I guess that is because of the Republicans in Congress.

Skirting the issue

Another article said that reduced American consumption has not helped keep prices down. Well, maybe it is more of a global demand and not just U.S. demand as some think. It's interesting now with Democrats in office how they like to skirt the real issues and still blame Republicans. But who are the ones stopping the oil companies from drilling for more oil? Maybe we can blame the 1 percent, the Supreme Court, the banks, or there's always blame Bush for this mess. That seems to never go away and works quite well.

Reaganomics

Aside from 9/11, the worst thing that's happened in the last quarter-century was the Clinton administration's decision that it should no longer fight but join and implement Reaganomics. Thus, the bipartisan repeal of Glass-Stegall, laying the foundation for the economic meltdown of 2008. Sadly, the Republicans have been able to convince far too many people that excessive rather than common sense rules and regulations governing our economy were to blame.

Senate grandstanding

A caller recently lambasted the Senate for being the least productive in U.S. history. Of course they are; how could the Senate possibly get anything done considering the GOP's grandstanding with their unified filibustering of absolutely anything the Dems propose and vice versa? It's easy to look like you accomplish something in the House; the rules aren't the same.

Performance-based pay

Rarely has an individual teacher received so much public praise and so many plaudits as has been bestowed on Notre Dame's Cynthia King. The reason is that she deserves all of it and more. If teachers were paid on the basis of merit instead of a one-size-fits-all salary schedule, Cynthia King would have been compensated at a level that would make her future retirement much more comfortable in a fiscal sense. Sadly, school administrators often lead the charge against merit pay in large part because they feel it would be too much of a hassle, cause too many intraschool problems and take up too much time evaluating teachers, a task at the top of the list of remedies for what ails schools. With the Cynthia King story serving as an example, Southeast Missouri can become a leader in implementing performance-based pay. Let's get going.

Paying taxes

I'd like to know how some of us that make between $30,000 and $60,000 cannot pay taxes. Am I doing something wrong? Please tell me what tax breaks I should be taking that I'm not. I file the long form because of high medical payments and other work-related deductions I know I am eligible for. I'd just like to be among those that don't pay taxes instead of having to pay.

Roundabout TLC

One more comment on the new proposed roundabout street design. I really don't think we need another one because the first one is in terrible shape. It certainly needs some TLC. Drive by and see for yourself.