Speak Out 8/31/05

Cut your losses

THE RIGHT-WINGERS are over the edge. First Pat Robertson, one of the leaders of the fundamentalist right-to-lifers, suggests we assassinate a democratically elected political leader in Venezuela. Then George Bush claims the reason for continuing to sacrifice American troops and Iraqi civilians in a war we know is promoting terrorism is because so many have already died. When a business loses money, you don't throw more money down the same drain. When a pointless war is costing thousands of lives, you don't sacrifice more lives to keep it going.

Embarrassing history

IT IS refreshing to hear that faculty members at Notre Dame Regional High School are wise enough to accept the fact of evolution while remaining committed to their faith. Unfortunately, others choose to ignore reality. One wonders if detractors of evolution would also suppress the thousands of Web sites, cable-television channels and scientific magazines that almost daily reveal new facts supporting evolution to our school children. It will be a tragic embarrassment if groups in denial over the fact of evolution must apologize to our grandchildren as the Roman Catholic Church once had to after centuries of denying facts of nature presented by a man by the name of Galilei Galileo. Let's not repeat history's embarrassments.

Too general

I BELIEVE the Christian right almost universally blasted Pat Robertson for his admittedly asinine remarks. Painting the entire movement by that one remark makes about as much sense as painting all leftists with the same brush as Ted Kazinski.

Too many cars

THIS IS in response to the Cape Girardeau Police Department's new cars: When persuading the voters, I don't think it was ever mentioned that 20 new cars would be bought with the revenue from the sales tax. The department should buy five new cars and hire five officers that aren't scared of the bad side of town. Quit setting speed traps on Mount Auburn Road, and catch some drug dealers, please.

Cell-phone myth

THE WIDELY held belief that cell phones start gasoline pump fires is an urban myth. It has been thoroughly discredited. The cable show "Mythbusters" went so far as to remove the back of a cell phone, strip insulation from the wires and place it in a small gas fume-filled chamber with no resulting fire. The only way a cell phone is capable of starting a fire is the occasional leaking battery, but that is a slow chemical reaction, not a sudden spark. The main culprit in most gas pump fires is static electricity. Do not get in and out of your car while pumping gas, especially in the dry winter months. Sliding across the seat can build up a static charge that under the right conditions can start a fire when you touch the nozzle.

Close to a library

WHY DOES Miner need a librar?. Miner residents can use the library in Sikeston. It would be closer for them to use the Sikeston facility than for us to drive to Oran or somewhere else.

Speeding big rigs

EVERY TIME I go to Cape Girardeau from Scott City, I set my speed control on 68 to 70 mph. But if I am doing 70 at the most, why is it that the tanker trucks and big rigs pass me like I am sitting still. Why don't they have to obey the speed limit? You never see one of them pulled over to the side of the road by the police.

Defending the SUV

BEFORE YOU judge SUV drivers, consider the reasons we drive them. Some of us drive them out of necessity, not because of ego. I have a small business, a boat, and three kids. I can't pull my boat with a Civic. I can't fit cases of toilet paper or paper towels -- or my family -- into a Prius. I won't call you a tree hugger if you don't call me a gas hog. If you do, I'll just wave as I drive by you spinning your wheels in 3 inches of snow.

Health concerns

I HAVE been a custodian for 16 years and still am astounded at the number of kids who don't wash their hands after using the restroom. Seventy-five percent of the students failed to wash hands after using the facilities. I believe kids don't realizing the health risks involved. Teach your kids to wash their hands.

Better line of vision

I WOULD like to give Scott City Mayor Tim Porch a big thank you for getting the weeds mowed on I-55. The grass was so tall I couldn't see if a car was coming. Thanks again.

Improving lives

MICHAEL DEVANEY'S diatribe was based on the misstatement that Southeast Missouri State University should prepare students for participation in the market. The mission of a university should be to provide a broad-based education that will improve the quality of students' lives and make them well-rounded individuals as opposed to grooming pawns for the crass capitalists.

Intersection weeds

WHEN IS our city going to do something about all the weeds at the intersection of Kingshighway and William Street? This is a busy intersection. It is painful to know our beautiful city looks like this.

Intolerant standard

CAL THOMAS labels those who hope that America can clear out of Iraq soon as "naive at best, and idiots at worst." He labels exit strategy demands "cutting and running" from an enemy whose "religion does not reflect diversity and tolerance of other faiths -- political or doctrinal." This from a man who discounts Jane Fonda not for the grandstanding expression of her anti-war sentiments, but for her "universalism" and because she is "not a Christian." Never mind that her views on Vietnam, as well as John Kerry's, seem to have been vindicated by time. Never mind that everybody is calling for an exit strategy from our commander in chief. Thomas' standard for arguing the merits of a case are just as intolerant and anti-diverse as those he hates, a perfect example of the self-contradiction of "hating people who hate people."

Making ethanol

I'M SORRY, corn farmers, but you must face reality. According to a recent study, more energy is expended in producing ethanol than it provides.

Reading project

SINCE PART of the movie "Killshot" is based on an Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, it seems the logical choice for Cape Girardeau's communitywide book to read and discuss.