OpinionAugust 18, 2009
Speak Out 8/18/09
Thanks for rescue; Sidewalk mailboxes; Just compensation; Cuts for seniors; Learn from Reagan; Satisfactory care; No rate increase; Great day; Street work; Dangerous driving; Control spending; Planning for the end; School lunches; Good coverage; Pulling the plug; Balanced literacy; Deficit spending; Moral issue; Local players; No access; Hollywood input; Monitoring waste
Thanks for rescue
I would like to thank the two young people who saved my 94-year-old mother during the storms. Her car ran off the road. As water came up to her neck, they pulled her to safety, put her and her friends in their truck and took her home. She's doing all right now. The next day, she drove herself to the beauty shop herself. What a mother. Thank you.
Sidewalk mailboxes
I'M on Mount Auburn watching some of the work being done to widen the road and put in new sidewalks, which is a great idea. They're doing an excellent job. But why go to all this work and expense and then put mailboxes in the middle of the sidewalk where everybody will have to walk around them?
Just compensation
I read where Joshua Kezer was filing a lawsuit for his wrongful incarceration. I am not one for anyone filing a lawsuit just to be filing one. Let's look at the situation. Mr. Kezer was incarcerated for over 16 years. He says the sheriff's department and everyone who withheld information robbed him of 16-plus years of his life. How can you give that back? No amount of money can undo the wrong that was done. I am in favor in Mr. Kezer getting all the money he can. I hope there are other people that feel the same way.
Cuts for seniors
THERE have been two letters in the newspaper about property-tax cuts for seniors in Georgia. I looked it up on the Internet. Anyone interested should go to Georgia Department of Revenue and click on "homestead exemptions." Come on, all you Missouri elected officials. Let's do something.
Learn from Reagan
PRESIDENT Obama could learn a lot if he would study the remarkable record of Ronald Reagan during the 1980s: the restoration of economic growth, recovering from inflation, the end of the gasoline crisis, technological boom, the beginning of the collapse of Soviet communism, the spread of freedom of democracy around the world. This all occurred under the guiding force of Ronald Reagan.
Satisfactory care
THERE have been a lot of complaints about Medicare. At age 65, my company that I retired from took my insurance away and I went on Medicare. I bought a supplement for me and my wife. Since that time my wife has had three procedures plus two operations. All tests and MRIs have come to quite a bit of money with very little money out of my pocket. I'm with the VA, which is also a government-run service, and I am completely satisfied with my health care.
No rate increase
A couple of months ago, we received a survey from AmerenUE regarding a comparison of usage from the last couple of years. And the company is giving us advice on how to conserve energy. My budget billing is ahead. How much money was wasted to do in this survey? I say no to any rate increase for AmerenUE.
Great day
IN the midst of all the turmoil in our country, let us stop and think that God is still on the throne and this is the day the Lord hath made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. It's not always easy to rejoice about some of the things that happen during the day, but don't forget: Jesus never fails. Have a great day, and put your trust in him.
Street work
I would like to know when the city is going to finish the repairs on West End Boulevard at Pemiscot Street. It's all torn up. There are big grooves, and you have to come to a complete stop if you don't want to knock your car out of alignment.
Dangerous driving
CAPE Girardeau would have no financial woes if it would station unmarked police cars at any of the major intersections. The police would take in enough money in one week to pay all the police salaries for a month. It's terrible. You don't dare take off after a light turns green anymore. Two or three more cars will go through the intersection on red, so you'd better watch out. Cape drivers are the most dangerous drivers on the planet.
Control spending
WE all know that government has spent more than it took in. It won't work to spend more than we make. Government can't raise taxes in a recession, because that would cause the recession to get worse. The only solution is for the government to decrease spending. Nobody wants to spend less money, but it has to be done. Call our federal legislators and tell them it is time to balance the budget.
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Planning for the end
A few years back every adult member of my immediate family established a living will. While some of our individual choices are similar, not everyone selected the same options for end-of-life issues. This gives a great sense of relief, knowing our personal decisions will be carried out exactly as we wish. The ultimate irony surrounding this provision in the health-care reform debate is that it's been turned into a politically divisive issue. Among my family are both Republicans and Democrats, but this had zero relevance as we collectively discussed this. How on Earth did such a neutral exercise become so politically charged?
School lunches
CORN dogs, nachos, cheeseburgers, french fries: These are just a few of the offerings from school lunch menus. President Obama should be overhauling the public school lunch rooms instead of my health care.
Good coverage
I find it ironic that many of the people who are protesting against the government health-care program are on Medicare and Medicaid. After losing my job due to health problems I paid $650 a month for COBRA insurance. Now I have Medicare and pay $96. I can see any doctor I want and have any procedure. For those who don't want government health care, drop your Medicare and Medicaid and get coverage from the private sector.
Pulling the plug
SOMEONE suggested disconnecting my electricity if I think my bill is too high. There is little need to do that since around here it has been disconnected fairly regularly by Mother Nature.
Balanced literacy
As a parent with children in the Cape Girardeau School District, I have attempted to stay in touch and keep informed about the curriculum and approaches being used to teach our children. It is my understanding that Cape schools teach reading using an approach called "balanced literacy." After doing some research, I am assuming that this is a combination of the whole language and phonics approaches. One of my concerns about this approach is how can we be assured that the skills are being taught consistently from grade to grade and building to building? If it is up to the individual teachers to pull in resources, how do we know they are using quality resources? Wouldn't it be more consistent to go back to using a reading textbook so that every teacher is teaching the same skills each week? I don't think MAP scores are showing that balanced literacy works. How much money has gone into this approach over the past few years? Has the district sunk so much money into balanced literacy that it refuses to admit that it does not seem to be working?
Deficit spending
THE government announced today that our federal deficit reached a level that the Obama administration said wouldn't be reached until September 2010. Go ahead and believe the estimates on the cost of this health-care reform fiasco and the various and continuing bailouts.
Moral issue
ALTHOUGH Jesus never asked anyone for money, never asked anyone to build a church, never said anything about homosexuality or abortion, the entire Bible contains over 3,000 references to helping the poor. Health care is the moral issue of our time. Where does your church stand on it?
Local players
EVERY year Southeast Missouri State University asks us to support the Redhawks football team, yet the university still doesn't get the basic problem with marketing and recruiting. People in Southeast Missouri don't want to go to Cape Girardeau to watch a team that is mostly non-local players and junior college transfers. SEMO would have sellout crowds if 50 percent or more of the team was local talent. They might not be contenders for a national championship, but I guarantee you the stands would be full. How would the coaches know if this formula would work or not? It hasn't been tried before.
No access
I am a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University. As a result of the current economic climate, I'm also jobless. I recently made a trip to Kent Library to do some studying for an upcoming licensure exam. I was surprised to find out that you cannot access the Wi-Fi connection at Kent Library unless you're a current student with an active Southeast key. This is a shame. I understand that Kent Library is not a community library. Cape Girardeau has a fabulous new public library, and I'm grateful that my community has such a wonderful asset. However, I feel that if an individual commits $20,000 or more to a university, he or she should receive the benefit of using a decent Internet connection. How hard would it be to ensure that anyone who is a graduate of SEMO can bring a laptop in and get some work completed?
Hollywood input
WHERE is the Hollywood crowd in the health-care debate? They usually have no problem when it comes to telling the rest of America what to think. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a tax on the rich will pay for health-care reform. Maybe the Hollywood crowd now thinks like the rest of us, that they will be paying much more for a lot less.
Monitoring waste
ONLINE posters responded to the alleged fraud by the owner of Specialty Design Health Care by saying this is another reason we need a federal health-care system. They claim this wouldn't happen with such a system. Wake up, people. This did involve a federal health-care system: Medicare. If you think a federal health-care system will be more carefully monitored, think of the $700 toilet seats purchased by the Pentagon and all the other documented instances of financial abuse in the federal government. These things are seen much less often in the private sector, and all facts bear that out.
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