Speak Out 6/1/06

Revolutionary idea

ONCE UPON a time, the people in this country got tired of being taxed and our properties and goods being taken from us by the British, so we had a little thing called a revolution. President Bush said the American people are addicted to oil. Well, our politicians' biggest problem is they're addicted to using our money and abusing their power. I think it's once again time to use that dirty little word: revolution.

Marble Hill UFO?

I'M OUT at Marble Hill, and I'm looking up at the sky after checking on my cats. I could swear there is a hovering kind of orange-ish light over Marble Hill. I went all around my yard, and it's still there. I know there are a couple of planes up there that blink, and there are lots of fireflies out, but I could swear some of these stars are moving. Please, somebody else verify this.

City landscaping

I THINK a fine job has been done by the city on the highway landscape. It's certainly an improvement over what it was. Since Cape Girardeau is no longer called the City of Roses, I don't think the city needed to plant roses. Roses are much harder to maintain.

National knowledge

YOU KNOW what is so sad about our country? More people knew who won the "American Idol" contest than knew that our nation's debt is over $8 trillion and our Congress is borrowing and spending our tax dollars away. This so sad.

County sales tax

I HEARD Commissioner Larry Bock on KZIM talking about the proposed sales-tax increase and how it would free up money for law enforcement and the paving of more county roads. Is this the reason we didn't get any mowing done on County Roads 271 and 268 in 2005? Is this the reason we can't get any roads paved in our area? I wish Bock would provide a list of all roads paved past the Diversion Channel bridge. We all pay taxes, believe it or not.

Hiroshima museum

WHILE LIVING in Japan in 1998, my husband and I toured Hiroshima. While we agree with most of Dr. Robert Hamblin's essay on the city and the bomb, he left out two significant items that disturbed us when we toured the museum: (1) nowhere was there any acknowledgment of Dec. 7, 1941, and the ensuing devastating battles and deaths in the Pacific; and, (2) one caption stated that the U.S. did nothing to redress the human and other damage of the bombing after the end of the war. This is an untruth. Perhaps the captions have changed since we were there. Perhaps they haven't.

Shaping opinion

I AGREE that we should always thank our war veterans. They have sacrificed so much, and many have paid the ultimate price. At the same time, I think we should tip our hats to anti-war activists who have time and again been in front of public opinion and helped educate us as to the futility of some of our military efforts abroad. Currently, Iraq comes to mind.

Excessive speed

I WISH the police would do something about the semi trucks speeding down South Sprigg Street toward Southern Expressway during the day. The speed limit is 30 mph, yet these trucks are doing at least 15 miles over the speed limit. Kids are on their bikes. There have been many near-collisions at the intersection of Southern Expressway and Sprigg. One of these days there is going to be a bad wreck.