Speak Out 5/20/06

Preschool advantage

STUDIES HAVE shown that intervention provided at the 3- to 5-year range is the most cost effective way of helping students become good overall learners. It takes less money to help students become good readers than it does to remediate a reading problem. A comprehensive preschool program will help those students, whose parents may not have the money for our expensive daycare and private preschools, to get the chance to start school with the skills and knowledge base they need to be successful.

Testimony of power

THE ARTICLE on the baptism of former drug addicts was refreshing to read and a real testimony of the power of God to change lives. My hat is off to the pastor.

Blimp identified

THE UFO was the Sanyo blimp. Our family and neighbors observed it.

Marriage protection

ON JUNE 6 the U.S. Senate will vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment. Religious liberties will be lost if homosexual-marriage advocates have their way. The Democratic National Committee has given thousands of dollars to homosexual groups to help promote this agenda. Activist judges are waiting eagerly to make homosexual marriage a reality. Washington state's Supreme Court is waiting until elections are over before ruling this abomination legal. Please contact your U.S. senators asking them to support the Marriage Protection Amendment.

Important issues

HUNDREDS OF Americans have been killed in Iraq. Thousands more have been maimed for life. And hundreds of thousands of civilian Iraqis have been killed. Thanks to this invasion and occupation, we are responsible for more dead Iraqis than was Saddam Hussein. Now that Iraq has descended into the civil war that protesters warned about from the beginning, the God-fearing Christians of this region have decided that a Shakespeare play and a movie are the most important issues we have to face. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Privacy or protection

THE SAME critics who want to do away with the NSA tracking of phone calls and records would cry fowl if there is another terrorist attack that could have been prevented if the government had more information. You can't have it both ways. Check my phone calls all you want.

Economic boom

ANYONE WHO knows anything about economics knows interest rates are not set by politicians and are set to control inflation, which is the increased cost of certain goods. Give credit to Republicans for a booming economy where people are buying and upgrading their homes so fast the Federal Reserve had to increase interest rates to slow it down. I would rather interest rates go up because of a good economy than have interest rates going down because the economy needs a boost.

Parking lot speeders

MOTORISTS IN Cape Girardeau drive so fast through parking lots. It seems like every time I am getting ready to back out of a parking spot or pull into one someone else is zipping by me. I've seen some motorists driving faster through parking lots than they do on the roads. Parking lots are not race tracks.

It takes nerve

ONLY NATIONAL Review Online would have the unmitigated gall to suggest yet another chief executive named Bush.

Fair spending

THE SEMO District Fair Board says the main reason it can't get good entertainment is because the fair can't afford it. The fair uses proceeds from the previous year to pay the musical acts, and the board says the fair barely makes enough money to keep going every year, much less get good entertainment. I find that hard to believe since it costs a small fortune to go to the fair.

Humane donations

I READ the story "Pathetic dog has his day." I got angry at the comment by Humane Society of Southeast Missouri director Jerry Van Oostrom, who said the organization is funded strictly through donations. The Cape Girardeau County Commission recently increased funding for the humane society by 50 percent. Unlike the humane society, Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary is a no-kill shelter in Cape Girardeau County that is funded by donations alone and has an all-volunteer staff. It is sad to say that if it were not for people like Stacy Foshee, the pathetic dog would have been euthanized. I wish the humane society would admit it gets money from other sources besides donations.

Can you hear me now?

A RECENT caller questioned the value of opinion polls. Those still doing the Limbaugh rock continually attribute poor poll showings by President Bush to a left-wing media conspiracy. But Fox News also shows the president doing poorly. Has Fox been infiltrated by the Left? Perhaps the Limbaugh legions need to think back to 1992 when the first President Bush denied the importance of the polls right down to the moment he was informed of his loss to Bill Clinton. It is far more likely that we uninformed masses are trying to tell this president and the Republicans something, and they best start listening.

Exercising domain

IN REGARD to the article about eminent domain, my family and neighbors in the county experienced a similar experience with the city of Jackson. Though there were previously approved Department of Natural Resources projects for water expansion within Jackson, a new plan was submitted and approved by DNR without landowner notification or public hearing regarding the change to place the projects outside the city limits. Cities and counties by statute may use eminent domain up to 15 miles out of their jurisdiction and not necessarily for the municipality's use. You would think our rolling fields, farmsteads and neat homes could be used as a draw to be proud of.

Welcome, Bo

I AM excited that the "American Idol" reject Bo Bice is coming to the SEMO District Fair. I loved him on the show and plan on seeing him at the fair. While I believe the fair is cheap on entertainment, Bo Bice did a wonderful job on "American Idol." Welcome to Cape Girardeau, Bo.