Speak Out 6/22/06

Jesus sign

GOING SOUTH on I-55 from Cape to Scott City, there is a sign off to the left just before you get to Scott City. It says, "Jesus, high cheek bones, bangs, no beard." Does any one have any idea what it means? Just curious. I never saw Jesus, and I'd like to meet the person who knows he has high cheek bones and bangs. If you read your Bible, you will find out also that they plucked out his beard.

Moral profit

TAKING THE moral issue out of the picture, since so many people seem to get stuck on that issue alone, Embryonic stem-cell research is a waste of taxpayer money. Are we willing to pour hundreds of millions of dollars annually into a science that even the scientists themselves say won't generate any benefits for anywhere between 10 to 20 years? How many billions of our dollars and those of our children and grandchildren are we willing to indebt ourselves for? All the benefits of stem-cell research have been in the adult stem-cell field. Let's continue the proven science. Let's invest in the immediate future and as an added benefit, profit morally as well.

Muslim vs. Christian

THE MUSLIM people claim that their mosques and Quran are holy. They should never be touched irreverently. But then one group of Muslims blows up the mosque and Qurans of another group of Muslims, and they retaliate by blowing up another mosque. Both times several Muslim people are killed. This does not make any sense to us. Baptists may compete with Methodists for people on Sunday, but we would never kill or bomb each other. And if someone did kill another Christian, we would call it murder no matter who did it. We are pro-life and pro-church.

Stuck in the '50s

IMAGINING CAPE as the "All-America" city is ridiculous, and I'm glad we didn't make the top 10. Residents of Cape are stuck in the past. The town is unofficially segregated and lacks any real diversity beyond white and black. No left-leaning or progressive person could ever get a vote in Cape. Anyone promoting new or different ideas is ridiculed. I nominate Cape for the "Most Sterile, Homogenized, Wishes it Were Still the '50s" award.

Neutering as Auschwitz

BY CALCULATINGLY, calmly and coolly calling for the neutering of dogs, the local Humane Society president's letter to the editor chilled me to the bone. It was a horrifying expression of species fascism. As Isaac Bashevis Singer once said, "Every day is Auschwitz for the animals."

Sleepless nights

RICHARD CASON'S rhetoric against the Home Again computer chip was of the highest quality. However, his expressed concern that the chip will eventually be used by an "efficient and sterile society completely devoid of any emotion, good or bad ... where you'll be taken away for any infraction against the state" and that using the chip's ability to help find lost children or pets "is not worth the dehumanization of our entire planet" is so over the top it makes me certain that Cason must spend many sleepless nights.

Mexico's problem

MEXICO FEARS that tougher U.S. border enforcement will flood Mexican border towns with desperate and destitute Mexicans who can no longer illegally cross into the United States or who are deported and can't cross again. My hanky will remain dry. This is a Mexican problem created by Mexican policies.

Insidious myths

"THE GREAT enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic" -- John F. Kennedy. Anyone who says that illegal immigration benefits America and its economy is spreading an insidious myth.

No more about addicts

NOW THAT the drug rehab article is finally done, maybe the Southeast Missourian can get on with some real articles. Drug addicts are losers, plain and simple. And you have a seven-day series on them? Ugh. Please, no more articles like this.

A terrible thing

IT REALLY breaks my heart that everyone is so upset about an ordinance eliminating garage-sale signs. It's just terrible that people might have to be creative to sell their junk, like put an add in the paper. If people who don't live here are troubled by it enough, then by all means don't come. We'll be just fine without you clogging our streets, acting confused in traffic and causing accidents. What a terrible thing that would be.

Voter fraud

SECRETARY OF State Robin Carnahan says current requirements for voter identification are sufficient. She must have missed things like St. Louis's voter fraud last election.

They don't matter

THE COMMENTS sounded good: We need to elect someone as our president who cares about the needs of middle America, an independent who would step forward and become a national candidate. There will never be a strong independent party in this country, because we voters are so tied into voting for the parties which have the money to convince us we need their candidates. Independent parties will never have the power and finances to compete.

Deputy pay right

IMPROVING THE sheriff's department is one of the goals of the proposed county sales-tax increase. Crime is down, and near election time the paper always tells us what a great job John Jordan is doing. One of the benefits is supposed to be better retention of officers if pay is raised. I would suggest that since things are going so well, the pay is about right. We are keeping costs down and getting the job done. The county should be reducing taxes, not raising them.

Unfunded mandate

WHAT'S PLYLER v. Doe, you ask? It's the 1982 Supreme Court ruling that our schools must provide a free K-12 education to illegal alien students. The feds pay a portion of the cost of medical care for illegal aliens but not for illegal alien students. Now that's a real unfunded mandate.