Speak Out 6/29/05

Other needs first

AN EXIT RAMP beautification project for $40,000? Why? Shouldn't the Cape Girardeau City Council consider spending residents' tax dollars on more deserving projects such as free local bus service, more cultural and historical programs or even a biking and hiking trail from the downtown riverfront to Cape Rock Park? Why not put it to a vote?

PBS funding

GOD BLESS U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson for her vote to remove $1 million of funding from PBS. Who needs Sesame Street, anyway?

Wrong target

THANKS TO those in the House who voted to restore full funding for PBS. Members of Congress should have known better than to pick on Cookie Monster.

Support the artists

WE'D BETTER support artists with public spending like those on PBS. With blue- and white-collar jobs being exported overseas as fast as the speed of light, artists may be all we have left. In a book, "The Whole Mind," author Daniel Pink argues that in the U.S. master of fine arts degrees are becoming much more valuable that master of business administration degrees, and he's right.

Party support

WOW! I can't believe what I read. A Democrat who is more concerned about his party than what the leadership is doing and saying. If I voted for a party and my child was in Iraq, I'd be telling that party to hit the road, because in the next election the party was going to pay for the slander it has been speaking. Instead, I hear the cry of political partisanship that will stay loyal and blame other parties. I won't support a party that calls our soldiers names.

Investment concerns

ALTHOUGH MISSOURI'S public employees retirement system should in no way invest its money in organizations tied in any way to terrorism, I get nervous when elected politicians start sticking their noses in what could become a very slippery slope leading to eventual dictation by elected officials (as opposed to experts in the matter) as to how public employee retirement money should or should not be invested.

Declining quality

A MISSOURI native, I returned to the Show Me State after several years of living in Tennessee, Virginia and Indiana. The quality of state services including higher education, K-12, roads and health care have all declined relative to the states I mentioned. Jefferson City is dominated by a cadre of politicians who appear to be using Mississippi and Louisiana as models for public policy. I travel in my business. On several occasions I have listened to other Missouri natives who share my opinions. Although I will be relocating to Florida in the fall, I wish only the best for my many friends, family and citizens who continue to live here.

Singing same tune

KATHLEEN PARKER, Cal Thomas, Mona Charen and David Limbaugh have all started dancing the "you may have been right all along but I was never wrong" dance. They dance to the tune of that big contemporary hit, "Only Traitors Question Their Government's Ethics." Parker wants Sen. Durbin to apologize for making us look bad at Guantanamo Bay. Not me. This war is not mine, nor has anyone convinced me it ever should have been. Wars are fought over wealth and power. Nobody has threatened my freedom recently aside from these columnists and the leaders they all rush to defend at every gaff uncovered and goof revealed.

Spending question

COULD SOMEBODY at city hall please explain how the city can spend $30,000 to $40,000 to plant grass and shrubs at Route K and I-55 and spend another $5,000 a year to maintain it, but can't pay the firefighters the rest of their promised raises. I thought I voted for a fire tax, not a grass and shrub tax. Good luck on the TTF vote.