OpinionAugust 14, 2007
Speak Out 8/14/07
Street repairs; Free for taxpayers; Underground tanks; Need tax refund; Target: middle class; Thanks for nothing; Party defense; Shocked, surprised; Stop the thefts; Light sentence; Employer liability; Prosecution victim; Ready for progress; More parking; Racism isn't funny; Space advantages
Street repairs
SPEAK OUT, I want to thank you for printing the notice about the pavement being buckled out there by Kies Eyecare Center on Mount Auburn. The city is now fixing it as of today. Speak Out, we appreciate you putting it in the paper, and city of Cape Girardeau, we appreciate you coming out and fixing it. Thank you.
Free for taxpayers
THREE RIVERS Community College says it wants to set up a center in Cape Girardeau that will be free to taxpayers and less expensive for students. Where's the downside? Sounds to me like we ought to tell them come on over. Well, if it's free for taxpayers, that's a whole lot better than any of the other schools we have in the area. It's going to be cheaper for students.
Underground tanks
All this hype about the temperature and the gas that you receive at the pump is blown way out of proportion. I don't doubt it makes some difference, but gas storage tanks are all underground now.
Need tax refund
I JUST read the comment "Roll back taxes." I agree 200 percent. The school district is a form of the government. The school district thinks there's an endless supply of money. My property taxes went up 10 percent this year. Now the district has a surplus. Isn't that amazing? We need a refund on our taxes.
Target: middle class
THERE ARE those in the middle class who would not or could not accept that their lifestyle has been attacked for years. Outsourcing of jobs and so-called globalization have compressed individual and family wages in America. Are Americans wrong to want a living wage? If Mexicans are paid $6 a day in Mexico and the Chinese are paid $1 a day, is that what America wants for the middle class? Where will our government officials get the tax dollars to pay their ever-increasing pay scales? Their medical expenses and retirement have to come from somewhere. Off-shoring of corporate headquarters can escape U.S. taxes that support our nation's expenses and our troops. Why is anyone surprised that homes are being lost with so many jobs outsourced to benefit many corporations in comparison to the middle-class way of life? The government gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil corporations while the oil companies are raking record profits. The Nathan Cooper exposure shows how far fellow Americans and businesses will go to compress jobs and incomes of our workers and the middle-class citizens of America.
Thanks for nothing
THANK YOU, state Rep. Nathan Cooper, for nothing. I was fighting a 35-year-old DUI in Illinois, and you could not help me, one of your constituents. You blew me off and said I'd just have to go through the process. Look at you now. What have you done? You stood up for immigrants getting illegal truck driving jobs and you won't even help your own. God help you.
Party defense
IT'S LAUGHABLE that local Republicans are defending Nathan Cooper, stating that his illegal actions were not done in the course of his official duties. Of course those actions were done in his position as a legislator. If Nathan Cooper were just some regular lawyer from Southeast Missouri, he never would have been in a position to orchestrate this scheme. By the way, Democrats are no better when it comes to defending one of their own.
Shocked, surprised
ISN'T IT amazing that when a politician, Republican or Democrat, gets caught doing something illegal, close allies always act shocked and surprised.
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
Stop the thefts
WHY AREN'T Cape Girar-deau officials taking thefts more seriously? If you read the police reports, there have been at least 40 cases of theft in Cape Girardeau this summer alone. When is it going to be enough? I understand that no one has been physically harmed by these thefts, but do we want it to get that far? These people who are stealing from areas around town are getting away. Who knows what they will try next to suit their addiction? Is it going to take a city official to get robbed for justice to be sought? It will take more than one dedicated officer to stop these thefts.
Light sentence
THREE CAPE Girardeau residents mug and rob a pizza delivery man. One admits guilt and cooperates in the conviction of another of the three. The cooperating perpetrator gets nine years for his offense. Nathan Cooper commits multiple federal offenses that have national security implications, admits guilt and offers evidence against other perpetrators. He gets 30 to 36 months as a pending sentence. I'm not saying that nine years for the mugging and robbery was wrong. I am saying that 30 to 36 months for major federal offenses is dead wrong. Morley Swingle could have made the situation more just by pursuing and obtaining a conviction and sentencing of Cooper on state criminal violations. He refuses to do so. A Republican prosecuting attorney being soft on crime committed by a Republican state legislator is dead wrong.
Employer liability
WHY ARE the employers who profited from the New Zealand drivers not being prosecuted and fined or jailed? All employers who were in this charade have used the program and know without any doubt that they had to be the employer named on the visas for it to be legal. They abused the system more than the immigration lawyer.
Prosecution victim
NATHAN COOPER should be pardoned immediately. He is obviously the victim of an overzealous prosecutor and political theater.
Ready for progress
LAST WEEK I read a comment that illustrated the shortsightedness of a lot of people. This person said he was happy to see that young adults are "maturing" by feeling that this city is boring. The only reason we feel this town is boring is because we feel the city is stuck, and any attempt to get it moving forward is blocked. It's bad when so many of the best and brightest young people feel they have to leave this town because they see no future in Cape Girardeau. The sad thing is Cape was once the most cutting-edge city in the region. By the turn of the last century, Cape was the first city to have the railroad, electricity and telephones in this part of Missouri. How far has our city moved? It's time to let us young people get this town moving and everybody else stay out of the way of progress.
More parking
I THINK the taxes going to the new federal courthouse, which seems to be a joke, should go to making better parking for Southeast Missouri State University. It's important that today's youths get a good education, and they need parking space in order to go to college.
Racism isn't funny
I'M NOT a school teacher, nor do I work for or have a family member who teaches. With that said, how dare someone make such a comment as "Retried teacher always think schooling was better in the good old days when they first began teaching or even better when they were in school themselves or, best of all in, the 1950s and earlier when many schools districts practiced de facto or de jure racial segregation." Only a racist would make such a comment and accuse another of it. I've heard so many racist remarks from individuals who claim they can't be a racist, so it isn't funny. What is worse is to be shopping and hear individuals from calling another person a name that, had I said it, I would be threatened with my life. When respect for others was tossed out of school, the results are what we see now. Racism is not funny, and it is sad to be accused of it by one who portrays it to the fullest.
Space advantages
I AM disheartened to see that some are still unaware of the debt modernity owes to the space industry. Satellites allow for GPS, cell phones and remote intelligence gathering, all of which are vital to defense. As for commercial viability in the private sector, there are many companies already investing in orbiting space hotels, lunar real estate and helium-3, a plentiful and clean fuel source on the moon that will power the 21st century.
Story Tags
Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:
For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.
Related
OpinionDec. 12
Advertisement
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
