Speak Out 6/7/05

Cheese and whine

I ENJOY reading Speak Out each morning. Some comments make me angry enough to respond. Others I laugh at because they are so absurd. The biggest problem I see is that there just isn't enough cheese for all this whine.

Accident-in-waiting

THIS IS to the woman in the F-250 with a small child in the back seat and with the sticker on the sliding back glass that says "Cowgirl Up." You pulled right out in front of me, not leaving me much time to stop. You and others like you shouldn't have the privilege to drive. I could have very easily hit you and possibly hurt your very innocent and beautiful child, or you, or myself. Even though the accident would have been your fault, I would have been the one to get the ticket because I would have run into you because of your stupidity. Next time I may not be able to stop. I've always wanted a brand-new vehicle. Are you prepared to buy me one?

Blame the Democrats

IF I may take slight issue with the usually erudite Eli Fishman, the reason union membership has dropped to a paltry 9 percent of the work force is not so much because union leaders don't always buy American as it is that the once honorable Democratic Party abandoned organized labor and was willing to make compromises with the GOP and agree to NAFTA and the whole globalization movement. The only hope for the resurgence of labor unions would be the return of the Democrats to a truly progressive agenda.

Can't we all get along?

POOR BEARS. They're trying to live like every other creature on this earth. They're having trouble because the crazy creatures called humans keep popping up everywhere unexpected. They can all live at my house. I'm sure we'd get along just fine.

Real problems

THIS AREA has a lot of problems. Southeast Missouri State University is locked in combat with Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., threatening the ability of lower-class and poorer people to get an education and climb out of poverty. Another problem is the enormous financial crisis that is looming because a lot of Missourians will lose their Medicaid benefit. But what I see my neighbors and Speak Out commentators concerned with is the litter problem and whether or not dogs are barking. Stop being so shallow. Pay attention to the real problems.

Mockingbird's songs

LON CHANEY Sr. was the man of a thousand faces, I would call the mockingbird the bird of a thousand voices. Have you ever heard it mock anything? I've never heard a mockingbird sound like anything but a mockingbird.

Big difference

I GOT a good chuckle out of the caller who wondered about the difference between talking on a cell phone while driving and talking to a passenger while driving. This is obviously a caller who has never had this experience. I hope I am not on the road the first time the caller tries this.

The Golden Tears

Pension plans are going under.

Retirees live in dread.

If you toil, don't make the blunder.

Work until you're dead.

No fancy frills

I'VE BEEN reading David Broder's column on the urgent case for fixing health care. There really is a lot of urgency, especially as baby boomers like myself get closer to needing expensive health-care services. Now that you can't file bankruptcy because of medical expenses, we're all in trouble unless you're either wealthy or poor. Everybody is just one major illness away from losing almost everything they have. Since a lot of my health-care expenses have to be paid out of my pocket, I would much rather have a choice of going to a semi-private room with fewer frills and fancy doodads. Just give me good health care and get me home.

Beware of advice

A BELATED tribute to Notre Dame Regional High School graduate Amber Karnes and her dad's open letter to her, recently published in the Southeast Missourian. Amber is a wonderful young woman and writes excellent columns for the Southeast Missourian. However, as far as the advice given to her by members of the local establishment and published on the same page as her dad's moving piece, I am going to break my rule against giving advice and offer Amber some. Amber, be leery of advice offered you by members of the establishment because, although it may not seem so, it is often and subtly designed to co-opt you and some day get you to do their bidding.

Nothing's off limits

I'M SO sick of hearing about the Quran. Those people couldn't care less about your religion or what you hold sacred. If it helps get someone to spill their guts about their plans to kill Americans, then so be it. Nothing is off limits in a war against terrorism. They certainly stoop to the lowest tricks to kill innocents. Who cares if we rip up a few copies of the Quran?

Must be a good job

HE MUST be doing a really great job. Congratulations to Southeast Missouri State University's Dr. Dale Nitzschke for signing up for another stint as a ... whatever it is.

His civic duty

ADLAI STEVENSON once said "This is the first time I ever heard it said that the crime is not the burglary, but the discovery of the burglar." Those condemning Mark Felt for his Watergate role need to think for themselves instead of letting talk radio's fugitives from the Flat Earth Society do it for them. Tapes reveal that when President Nixon's staff suspected Felt, they were more concerned with whether he was Jewish or Catholic than whether he was telling the truth. Most Felt critics quoted by talk radio did jail time. Pat Buchanan, Felts loudest critic and a former Nixon aid, recently blasted President Bush for not using federal marshals to seize Terry Schiavo in violation of federal and state courts. Felt may not be a hero, but he did do his civic duty.

Kicking up the war

I AGREE with David Limbaugh that we should continue to vigorously pursue the war on terror. However, I feel that we should do so by bringing home the ground troops trying to stabilize Iraq and export democracy, end all illegal immigration, build a Fortress America and engage in selective and unmerciful bombing of any nation's seat of government that engages in state-sponsored terrorism.