Speak Out 5/20/11

Sleeping well?

I hope the millionaires and the Republicans are sleeping well at night, not tossing and turning because of all the middle-class people having to figure ways to get to work, needed trips to doctors and shopping with all the flooded and destroyed roads. With all the cuts they are planning on doing, we all may have to go back to horseback or walking, as we may never get the roads fixed back up for a long time.

Irresponsible

THE failure of the Missouri Legislature to pass a law requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine is nothing short of an endorsement by the legislature of the state's shameful status as leading the nation in the rate of meth usage and distribution. This is so reprehensible. The state legislature itself has now (in my view) moved into first place as the nation's most irresponsible.

Legacy lives on

IT is so inspirational to see the 1960s Freedom Riders' legacy live on in the President Obama inspired movement for democracy throughout most of the Arab world.

Mini New Orleans

THERE'S going to be some discomfort, particularly among the older generation, as Cape Girardeau evolves from a 1950s town along the Mississippi into a go-go cosmopolitan community reminiscent of a smaller version of New Orleans. But we will adjust.

Smokers' negligence

THERE'S a legal problem with smokers' "right" to smoke in public places, as I see it. It requires two acts of negligence: 1) It neglects my right to not breathe toxic smoke; 2) The smoker neglects their duty to care about my rights as a fellow patriot.

Blame Democrats

THE Democrats are to be blamed for continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They promised to end both wars, and instead continued down the same road. That hypocrisy is why they won't be trusted to ever again implement any real change.

Enforce speeding limits

I think Jackson needs to strengthen its enforcement of speeding limits on city streets and the highways that go through the town. The speed and the noise of the cars and trucks makes it sound like a race track, and it's impossible to turn into and get out of some of the driveways and businesses that have driveways off the highways.

Not farmable?

THEY say that the land at Birds Point, now that it's been flooded, will be ruined for years to come and not be farmable. My question is, what makes this not farmable when the land around Dutchtown and Cape Girardeau gets flooded almost every year yet it's farmed every year?