Speak Out 8/22/06

No more pain

WITH NORMAL logic, if you touch a hot frying pan, you remove your hand. In Republican America, you leave your hand on the pan because eventually you won't feel the pain.

Affordable coffee

I'M A little confused about the recent analogy in Speak Out regarding the cost of a cup of coffee in Boston versus the cost in Cape Girardeau and how that relates to the minimum wage. It seems to me that if we raise the minimum wage here, we'll all be able to afford a cup of coffee in Boston. How is that a bad thing again?

Giving, receiving

THE THING that irritates me about farmers receiving welfare is that most of them proclaim to be free marketeers and condemn all other welfare recipients.

Early buzzer

I WAS depressed about your editorial "The school buzz." The buzz I will hear will be at 6 a.m. from the alarm clock. Groan.

All about money

IN ANSWER to the question about how smoking can be blamed entirely for illnesses when there are so many other things that cause illness: because government cannot find a way to charge excessive taxes for things like carpets, paneling, automobiles and charcoal grills. Remember, the bottom line in the Great Smoke Inhalation Debate is about money. Government wants our money and has done its best to turn tobacco into the Ultimate Enemy.

Reason for raises

THE AUTHOR of "Keep it down" has it backward about the minimum wage. States like Massachusetts, California and Illinois are increasing their minimum wage to keep up with inflation, not the other way around. People want to live in these states, and with the ridiculous cost of housing and energy, so goes the price of coffee and groceries. Their leaders raised the minimum wage because our government was too busy giving itself raises to notice the plight of the common American.

Unnecessary expense

AS A mother of two children, I agree that we need to find ways to keep our children safe, but a booster seat until 8 years of age? That is ridiculous considering the fact that school buses that transport these same children to school don't have so much as a seat belt, let alone a booster seat for each child. Will it be considered illegal for a child to ride these school buses? It seems to me the buses are OK the way they are, but parents have to spend not only more time, but more money on something the government wouldn't do for school systems. Parents need to think about that.

Divided nation

REASONABLE, LEGAL and controlled immigration is fine. It is with unreasonable, illegal and uncontrolled immigration that the problems start. If we really don't care if we end up with a divided nation because of too much immigration, I guess it doesn't matter.

Rice's about-face

SECRETARY OF State Condolezza Rice's valiant effort to justify the destined-to-fail international effort to stop the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel was wrong. She was also woefully off base in refusing to admit that the real winners in the conflict were Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. I'm sure Rice will have to do an about-face shortly when Israel is forced to resume its unilateral effort to rid us of these menaces once and for all.

Protecting freedom

CONGRATULATIONS TO Missouri Press Association executive director Doug Crews for justifiably crucifying U.S. Sen. Kit Bond's calculated effort to destroy freedom of the press and turn our freedom-loving nation into a semi-fascist state.

Keep term limits

EXTENDING limits for elected officials so there is less time spent learning the ropes? We all know (or should) that our elected politicians, for various reasons, should not be allowed to live off the taxpayers for more than a few terms. Politicians should not need 8 to 12 years (the length of time to get through school) to become educated about our needs. They should know quite a bit going in, and if they listened to their citizens' input, they would know what we want and need without touring. Please, discourage any future movement toward raising or eliminating term limits.

Get rid of them

DRUG DEALERS and users of Cape Girardeau need to be pushed into the river.

Clinic funding

THE CLINICS like Cross Trails are, indeed, a godsend to many of us. Perhaps it would be a good idea, while encouraging people to take advantage of their services, to find ways to enhance their funding so they might have more doctors and services. It seems that every few years, someone in government wants to cut their funding, which is ridiculous in view of the large percentage of low-income population in this area. Hospitals might consider contributing to these clinics to help offset the ER visits that go unpaid.

Hola, traveler

I ALWAYS wanted to vacation in Mexico, but being such good neighbors, they saved me the trip and came here instead.

Don't need jargon

ONCE AGAIN a story by a Southeast Missourian reporter doesn't contain the information people really need. In Sunday's story on new cell-phone fees we are given a dizzying array of facts about signal types, but the average person has no clue what they mean. What we really needed to know is left out. What is considered an older phone that will be subject to the service charge? Two years, one year, six months? This is the information we needed, not a bunch of technical jargon.