Speak Out 8/13/08

You can tell

NOTHING SAYS "doublewide" like fog lights being used on a clear night. And nothing says "old pink singlewide and mullet" like one burned-out fog light on a clear night.

Trashy pigs

PIGS: THAT'S an insult to the four-legged ones, but that is the word that comes to mind after viewing the trash left over after any gathering. What on earth makes humans throw their trash on the ground when trash cans are close by? Or why can't you wait until you find a trash can? Clean up after yourself. You're a slob and a pig.

Green eyes

THE GREEN eyes are at it again, picking someone who has money (Rush Limbaugh) to rip apart to make them feel better about themselves. Perhaps a mirror in which you see yourself as a failure for not accomplishing anything in your life should be displayed for public viewing. Let he who is perfect stand up and proclaim the sins of others.

Butt damage

I WANT to thank the scumbag who flicked his cigarette out the window and onto the tonneau cover on my truck. It melted a hole in it. Not only do you pollute, litter and smell like an ashtray, but you destroy other people's property. Use your ashtray.

Government solution

THE MOST harmful of all the horrible ideas from the Reagan era still haunting us today was the one that communicated the idea that the government was the problem and not the solution. It led to private excesses (subprime housing mess, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) that would never have happened had our government not had its regulatory and oversight status gutted. We have belatedly realized that good government can and should be part of the solution to the ever growing list of societal ills.

Light duties

WHY SHOULD an elected county official have to come to work if there's nothing to do?

Cannot endure

USURY IS a heinous practice of charging excessively high interest rates and is condemned by the Bible. Writing in The Nation, William Greider claims the practice has run amok in America with everything from credit-card practices to payday loans to the infamous subprime mortgages. Greider says that these practices amount to something "a decent society cannot endure." Amen.

Still ridiculous

GUESS WHAT? Gasoline prices are down. Remember when they were $3.80 and $3.60 a gallon? Now with a barrel of oil at $115, maybe they will get back down to at least $3 a gallon soon. Still, that's ridiculous compared to $1.

Family show

ALL THESE negative comments about "Swingtown," I don't get it. My children and I enjoy watching it. It is one of the few things that we can do as a family and bond. It is about time some good family entertainment came on the television.

Light turnout

ONCE AGAIN the voter turnout for Cape Girardeau County elections was pitiful. Around 25 percent of the registered voters in the county came out to voice their opinion. In simpler terms, that is only one in four people. You would think more people might cherish this right denied to so many other citizens of the world. And if you didn't vote, you don't have any reason to complain.

Warming consensus

I HAPPEN to believe global warming is man-made. However, I do not think arguments that there is a general scientific consensus on this matter makes it uncontestable. As pointed out in the Internet magazine Slate, there is a stark difference between scientific consensus and scientific truth. If consensus was all that mattered, would we have (as the article points out) accepted Einstein's theory of relativity to challenge Newton's long held mechanistic theory as to how the universe works? What about the "counterintuitive" idea of vaccination or the challenging-at-the-time view that physicians should wash their hands before surgery? There must always be room for dissent, and reporters must never see themselves as final arbiters on these matters. Many people, including scientists and teachers, want the news media to criticize -- even disallow dissenting views -- on issues like the cause(s) of global warming. In a free society, that would amount to nothing short of establishing a religion and should never occur.