Speak Out 6/22/10

Invest in oil

GASOLINE prices are going to rise. Buy stock in an oil company.

Electrical needs

WHY hasn't AmerenUE retrofit generators on the Mississippi River dams? There would be enough energy for all the cities by the Mississippi River. Also, there's enough energy in 25 feet of sunlight to melt a brick. So what are we waiting for, America? Let's stop wasting oil. We need more windmill farms also.

It's hard work

DID you know that teaching is hard work? And it doesn't start at 8 in the morning and doesn't stop at 3:30 in the afternoon but goes on and on and on.

No time to rest

THE cleanup crews working on the beaches are only allowed to work about 20 minutes and then rest for 40 minutes. Do you have any idea how hot it is in Iraq and Afghanistan where our servicemen and women are in full uniform with a big pack on their backs? They don't get to rest after 20 minutes.

Oil in Scott City?

WHAT's wrong with our Scott City water? Do we have some of the oil in our water?

Casino impact

THE devastation that comes from losing money at a casino is much more severe than small-business owners trying to make a living in America, not to mention how much more influence a casino owner might have on our politicians than ordinary citizens.

Waste of fuel

I think this air show is a waste of money. Why in the world is the government letting all these jets fly around using all that fuel with the economy like it is? I know the Blue Angels want to show what they can do. But this should be stopped to save our nation from this fuel shortage.

Middle ground

MIKE Jensen is irritated because neither political party seems willing to give credit to the other party or acknowledge a wrong-headed decision by its own. I understand his point, but there is a reason things are the way they are. The Republicans are defensive and would never admit that, even though they know it, the Democrats are right about everything. On the other hand, I think the Democrats have been modest, in part because it would be unseemly for them to publicly state that they have simply made no mistakes. Jensen encourages both parties to find the middle ground. However, the Democrats have found and occupied it for a long time and are waiting patiently for the Republicans to join them.

Disaster greed

REGARDING the BP oil spill: Isn't it funny that business owners and other individuals are calling themselves small, like the service station owner with 48 BP stations saying he is small-business owner? We all agree it is a sad disaster, but there is greed here too.

Choose a side

HOW amazing that, as we reap the consequences of Reagan's deregulation and Cheney's secret energy policies, someone would actually parrot the tired old line that the oil spill was caused by a lack of regulation. It's time to decide. Are we on the side of corporations or the side of the people?

Not objective

ACCORDING to a recent comment, "conservatives ... are more in tune with objective economics" than liberals. This sounds analytical, professorial and based on indisputable empirical evidence. The problem is that economics is a social science that deals with the behavior of not-always-rational human beings. As a result, the argument crumbles because there simply is no such thing as "objective economics."

The only one

"I cannot be the only one who feels as if every new day brings a new assault on this nation and its people by this administration," wrote David Limbaugh in a recent column. Believe it or not, Mr. Limbaugh, according to a cursory and perhaps unrepresentative sampling of American public opinion I just completed, you are.

Get the money

I'M just one of those "small" people referred to by a BP executive. I think the $20 billion escrow fund President Obama pressured BP into setting aside was a good thing. I don't think it was a shakedown, as one Republican member of Congress characterized it. Neither do I appreciate GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's comment that BP was "fleeced" by our federal government. In fact, I am proud of the president for holding BP accountable for this unprecedented tragedy.