Speak Out 8/24/09

Obama's change

I appreciated the article by Lou Pritchett, former vice president of Procter & Gamble: "President Obama: You scare me." I have said these very words since Obama started his campaign. Everyone wanted change. We haven't seen the worst of that change. We used to be the strongest country in the world. Now we are the laughingstock. Our country is at a serious security risk. We need to take back our jobs. They are across the oceans making those economies stronger and better. Our unions that kept the workplace fair are gone. Open your eyes, America.

Educated, experienced

I am concerned about the unemployment rate in Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas. After moving to this area from Florida to be closer to my family, I soon realized after working two jobs and still not being able to pay my bills that I needed to further my education. So I did. I usually worked two jobs and carried a full load at school. There were days I could barely function, but I did it. I graduated in May 2008. I'm 47, intelligent, dress well, have outstanding people skills but cannot find a break. Experience? I'm 47 and have raised three children. I have excelled at every job I've ever had. There are 27 million 45-plus individuals unemployed in the U.S. We are your experience. Come on, employers. Throw us a bone. I am beating the bushes until I have beat myself to death. How do you pay back student loans with no job? I do not want to leave this area, but things are not looking too promising.

Screwed-up system

FROM what I have seen the several times universal health care has been brought up (Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton, Obama), it is always tightwad, selfish, self-centered people who do not want to share the cost or privilege of health care with those of us who can't afford it. I have high blood pressure, cancer and other problems. My wife has many health problems. No health insurance company will insure her. It was not our choice to become ill. I planned on a long, productive life well into retirement years. My insurance premiums were just raised from $910 to $994, and I have to continually fight for coverage. Hepatitis A/B vaccinations costs $45 per shot (series of three) at our county health clinic, but my insurance will not pay for it. The same shot costs $385 plus a $150 doctor fee plus $45 for giving the shot at my doctor's office, but insurance will pay for two of the series. That is a screwed-up system.

Teaching math

IT isn't just the teachers' responsibility to be sure a student learns. The same educational material can be presented to two students. They can be given the same opportunities at school. One may end up valedictorian, and one could drop out. Much of the problem is the lack of parental involvement. This year the middle school has cut out the separate low, middle and high math classes for sixth-graders. While my child was in the high class last year, he is now in the basic math class with the low students. Where are the middle students? Being pulled out to be taught high math. Why? Because the school wants the low students' scores to improve. Teachers expect the low students being in class with the high students will help them learn more. How is that fair to the low or high students? Seriously, it won't help.

Memphis service

IF the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport wants to improve service it needs flights to Memphis, Tenn. Whenever I travel down South, I have to fly to St. Louis, then back down to Memphis. Currently I drive to Paducah, Ky., and fly from there.

Job promise

PRESIDENT Obama promised 3.5 million new jobs if elected. We bit into that rotten apple and elected him. Now I've lost my job along with two and half million others. I will never vote for another Democrat in my life.

Socialist scheme

CAP-and-trade is the tax that Democrats dare not speak of as a tax, even though it will be a huge tax increase -- a job-killing, retail price-raising sledgehammer falling on the heads of working-class Missourians. Politicians love this tax that they claim is a tax on polluters, not workers. But in reality it's the reverse. It's the workers who are going to be slammed with another ton of bricks. Once the government creates a scarce new commodity -- in this case the right to emit carbon -- and then mandates that businesses must buy it, the costs will inevitably be passed on to all consumers in the form of higher prices. Stating the obvious, Peter Orszag -- now President Obama's budget director -- told Congress last year that "Those price increases are essential to the success of a cap-and-trade program." Cap-and-trade, hiding behind a new name, is just a socialist scheme to redistribute income and wealth, but in a different way than what Obama campaigned on. It takes from the working class and gives to the affluent.

Premiums, profits

SINCE 2002 the average premiums paid to U.S. health insurance companies has gone up 87 percent. The profits of the top 10 insurance companies in the U.S. have gone up 428 percent. This has occurred because of the deregulation and greed of the insurance industry. Are you beginning to understand the problem, or do you sympathize with the insurance agents showing up to disrupt the health care forums?

Unify this nation

AS a child of the 1950s and 1960s, I remember neighbors gathering in the evenings and talking while children innocently played together. I remember carrying groceries for your neighbor and cutting the neighbor's lawn. I remember respecting your teachers and learning tolerance when intolerance was all around us. I remember a time when religion, patriotism, a love of country and social conscience were the foundation of our country. Today I am ashamed of what is going on in this country over health care reform. Do I want more government in our lives? Of course not. But when I hear people using scare tactics to advance their cause, it does not promote their opposition to health care for all, it reveals their intolerance for all. Why can't we turn this negative energy into something positive, a common ground to advance dialogue and create solutions instead of division and oppression? We are a nation of intelligent and creative people. Why are we not working to unify this nation in a time of deep financial, emotional and moral decline?

Track record

CAR dealers are starting to pull out of the Cash for Clunkers program because they are not getting paid. Half the New York dealers have already pulled out. If the government can't handle a small deal like this, I sure don't want them running my health insurance program. Think about the government's track record, Social Security is virtually broke, Medicare is going broke, and our federal legislators don't want to be part of the president's health care plan. It sounds fishy to me.

Democratic resolve

THE Democrats have bent over backward (perhaps wrongly) to get bipartisan support for health care reform. It has been obvious to me and others for a long time that the administration is never going to get GOP support for any type of health care bill. Since they could well have the votes to do it, I suggest an immediate abandonment of bipartisanship and a Democratic resolve and determination to cram a bill down the throats of the GOP.