Speak Out 8/6/09

Bad idea

"CASH for clunkers" is the perfect example of what our government should not do. People who are working low-paying jobs are most likely unable to pay for a new auto even with a $3,500 subsidy. And the removal of up to 285,714 autos will in all likelihood increase the price of older automobiles.

Saving energy?

DOES anybody have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the Department of Energy during the Carter administration? We've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember. It was simple, and at the time everybody thought it appropriate. The Department of Energy was instituted Aug. 4, 1977, to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Now the budget for this department is $24.2 billion a year and has 16,000 federal employees and 100,000 contract employees. And look at the job it has done. Now Democrats want us to turn the banking system, health care and the auto industry over to them? Beam me up, Scottie.

Jackson bill

CITY of Jackson, I love this town, but our city bill for this month was $288. That is awful. We feel we have to move to the county to have a cheaper utility bill. Please help.

Unreliable info

MUCH of what is on the Internet is garbage. Anyone can create a webpage and post anything. The most reliable internet sites end in .edu, .org and .gov. I make my living fact-checking for a large business, and the vast majority of information on .com sites is easily disproven. By the way, my uncle and aunt live in Canada, and their Canadian friends pay much higher taxes than we do. Many of them also come to American to have major medical work done. So do thousands of other people who live in countries with a national health-care system. Where will we go if the Democrats get their hands on our health-care system?

Keep the jobs

IF the city goes automated in collecting recyclables, four people will be without jobs. I wonder if, in this time, we need to eliminate jobs. Maybe the best thing to do at this time is to keep things as is. I am an avid recycler, and I think our city does a great job at my curb.

Good program

APPARENTLY being willing to sacrifice their chances of re-election on a cross of ideology, some members of Congress voted against and will again vote against an extension of what may be the greatest government program in recorded history: "cash for clunkers."

Local fluff

ON a day when Joe Sullivan and a blogger took the media to task for publishing fluff, the front page of the Southeast Missourian was dominated by a story about sky diving and a miniature train in Chaffee.