Speak Out 8/24/05

Big deal?

Cape's MAP scores have dropped.

School leaders are shocked.

Kids don't give a rip.

Its effect on them? Zip.

Right-wing anger

THAT NAT Hentoff piece is scary. I guess Southeast Missouri State University science professors are going to have to start teaching intelligent design theory in order to satisfy the need for diversity. Maybe the political science professors will have to start entertaining the daily lies and distortions of Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Missourian editorials as if they are serious political positions. Nat Hentoff and his like are just angry about the one place that the right cannot control, the one place where actual thinking apart from the right-wing propaganda machine still occurs.

Job well-done

LET'S SEE. You get a ticket for doing stupid things while driving, and you decide the police officer is targeting you? How about you deserved the ticket, you learned your lesson and you won't give that policeman another chance to pick on you? Another job well-done, officer.

Seldom used

I WAS sorry to hear about the canceled dodgeball tournament. I hope those kids work it out and get to have it somewhere else. The real shocker that came out of this story is that Jackson wasted a whopping $40,000 on refurbishing tennis courts that only a small group of people use for tennis. I've lived in Jackson all my life, and that court has rarely been used. Most times when I go by it is vacant. Listen up, Jackson. Stop wasting money on stuff that only serves a small group of people. The money could have been used elsewhere.

Education matters

WHAT'S GOING to happen when all of the low-scoring students who take the MAP test get shipped to high-scoring schools? The score's at the higher ranking schools will come crashing down. People want to blame the teachers, but the reason scores are low among minorities and low-income students is because of a lack of positive role models in their lives. Bill Cosby hit the nail on the head when he said minorities have to be more positive with each other and not blame other races for our oppressions. It makes me sad to see how young people today have completely destroyed what many people died for in fighting for civil rights in the 1960s. I have met my grandchildren's teachers, and they are doing all they can and then some. Cape Girardeau teachers are doing much more then their best. How can you get a child to care about his education when many adults act like education doesn't matter?

Tooth-fairy science

HURRAY FOR intelligent design. Accepting it clears the way for teaching all kinds of cool science theories. Take the one about aliens from another universe planting life on Earth. Great science. Just about any theory could be taught. Let's bring back the one about the stork delivering us. No need to limit the Earth's age to 2,000 years or 5 billion. Anything goes with this theory. With this bold new science, we can even abandon those silly 2,000-year-old Christian traditions. Who needs them? Or maybe it would be better to keep those wonderful traditions, teach faith in our churches, teach real science in our schools and skip the tooth-fairy science.

Church fare

I DO not want to bash a church, but everything I read or hear people talk about the Cape Cowboy Church is about the entertainment. When I brag about our church, I say the pastor preaches sound doctrine. I go to church to hear the word of God, not to be entertained.

Dodgeball limit

DODGEBALL ISN'T a bad sport. It's a good sport with good kids. I have found many friends there. Banning us from the upper tennis courts at Jackson City Park is a malicious way to deal with the situation, but banning us from even having a couple of tournaments there a year is unjust.

Change of location

THE POLICE ran the drug dealers and troublemakers from Hanover and Bloomfield. Now they're hanging around the 500 block of South Ellis Street. The police need to patrol the 500 block of Ellis more often. People who have lived in this quiet neighborhood for a long time now have to worry about these people hanging out at the corner. Something needs to be done.

Thanks for purse

I WANT to thank the young man who found my purse and turned it in at Wal-Mart Wednesday evening. You always hear the bad things about young people, but there are a lot more good ones than bad. I want him to know that I thank him and he's in my prayers.

Four-lane Sprigg

SPRIGG STREET should be four lanes from William Street north to Southeast Missouri State University.

They go together

INTELLIGENT DESIGN is nothing new. I graduated from Notre Dame Regional High School in the early 1980s. When my science teacher explained the teaching of evolution in a science class in a Catholic school, he said, "If God is, was and always will be, how can we assume that 'God made the world in six days' was referring to 24-hour periods? Maybe man evolving from all fours to walking upright is no different in God's timespan than the human being starting from a sperm and an egg and the cells splitting and splitting and growing until you have a human capable of living outside the body." After I thought about it, I had no problems accepting both creationism and evolution as going hand-in-hand.

Covering the costs

A WATER park probably would pay for itself three months out of the year. The other nine months the taxpayers would pay for it. That's why we don't have one.

Sounds rigged

I ALSO have a problem with early ticket sales at the Show Me Center. I have stood in line three times. Each time it was announced that after the numbers were handed out one lucky person in line would win front-row tickets via a random number draw. All three times the tallest, longest-legged, bustiest blonde in line won. Random? I think not.

Taxing concern

AS A small-business person, I hope to someday leave my children an estate that should be worth a few million dollars. I started my business with nothing and have worked long hours for many years to make it what it is. I have paid over a million dollars in personal income tax over the last 15 years. I don't believe the government is entitled to any more of my wealth. Liberal Democrats believe that the rich should pay for everything because they don't deserve their money. I have an idea. Let's kick all of these terrible rich people out of our country. Oops. I forgot they foot the bill for the largest amount of taxes collected. The top 20 percent of income earners pay 80 percent of the taxes. Leave my estate alone.