Speak out 6/26

Low interest, lost income

I CANNOT understand how some people can be so daft to certain things that are going on. The average senior citizen has saved money to draw a little interest to increase their income along with their Social Security. But now President Bush and Fed chairman Alan Greenspan have got the interest rates so low that the senior citizens can't survive. My income has gone down $7,000 to $8,000 a year from the little interest check I received and spent.

Spend less on sports

I SEE where the Jackson School Board approved the new school budget with all of its worries. I think this wouldn't be necessary if some of the money being spent on sports would be spent on the educational program. Are students going to school to be football players or to receive an education? I thought it was to receive an education.

Sign the budget

IN JANUARY, the governor proposed his budget for education. Later, the legislature passed its budget for education -- 99 percent of what the governor asked for. He only lost 1 percent, and he vetoed it. The legislature passed it again, and the governor vetoed it again. The legislature passed it a third time, and the governor says he will sign the bill. Please sign the budget, Governor. Give the money to our kids and our schools, Then you can fight over the last 1 percent in September. Let's keep education going.

Long wait, short visit

IN REGARD to the article about the study that says physicians fail to follow recommended guidelines for treatment: How in the world can you wait two hours to get in to see a doctor and you're out the door in five minutes?

Wait to spend

I NOTICE the school districts keep hollering about a shortage of money. But I also notice they're building an addition at Central Middle School. I'm sure this could have waited. The same way with the college. They're spending a fortune up there at the old Washington Elementary School on a building just to store stuff in. This is something that could have waited.

Disgraceful graffiti

NEGLECTING TO remove the graffiti on Broadway is almost as disgusting a crime as those who created this filth. Blocking out some of this surely wouldn't hurt the chances of catching and punishing these individuals. We have a sorry society when sickos are brought up like this to get a thrill out of such low-life behavior. Some probably know the perpetrators of this crime but hide the truth. These creeps have no honor or decency and disgrace themselves and their families by not speaking up.

A responsible plan

YOUR EDITORIAL about I-66 makes clear that Missourians interested in fiscal responsibility should unite behind a plan that brings the route over the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. Crossing the river anywhere else would be folly.

Immigration sense

COMMON SENSE may be the defining characteristic of the parents of the Greatest Generation. With few tax-supported social safety nets, they helped -- but did not coddle -- their neighbors. In an age when many were themselves immigrants or children of immigrants, they knew when it was time to call for a break and pressed Congress to drastically reduce immigration numbers. They also designed curricula to Americanize new and native-born Americans alike. With 40 years of a million legal and 800,000 illegal immigrants a year, and with "Americanization" becoming a dirty word, we seem to be lacking their common sense and backbone.

Republican appointees

JUST FOR the record, four of the six U.S. Supreme Court Justices who voted to legalize gay sex all over America were appointed by Republican presidents.

No overflowing coffers

A CALLER persists in thinking that school districts' coffers are overflowing but fails to prove it by providing solid facts. If the double-count money for summer school is being used to fill an overflowing coffer, why haven't there been stories about that in the Missourian? Surely that would make better fodder than teachers not being rehired, budget shortfalls fiscal mismanagement.

Guns boost crime

THE FACTS are clear. In states that have passed concealed weapons laws, gun crime has gone up on average by 13 percent. It just sickens me that legislators are more concerned with making a small minority of constituents happy rather then doing what is best and safest for everyone.