Speak Out

Form of punishment

IN RESPONSE to the article "Disabled mother evicted over son's drug charges": If evicting the family members of people charged with breaking the law works so well at preventing crime, why don't we do it for all crimes?

Grim forecast

IT BUGS the fire out of me when President Bush says he's optimistic about the economy or anything else and then claims to be a conservative. As pointed out in a recent article in National Review Online, true conservatives are pessimists. Among other things, they realize that nothing meaningful will be done about immigration, only Anglo-Saxon countries can make democracy work, the U.S. Constitution can't survive a war on terrorism, China will become dominant without moving toward democracy and, most ominously, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are saddled up and ready to ride. The past was bad. The future will be worse. Live for today.

Information pipeline

Aw, baloney. YOUR HIGH-FALUTING EDITORIAL WAS WAY OFF BASE. ONE DOES NOT NEED TO TAKE A COURSE ON LEADERSHIP IN CAPE GIRARDEAU TO LEARN WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. ONLY TWO THINGS ARE NECESSARY: READ SPEAK OUT AND HANG AROUND COFFEE SHOPS.

We are what we eat

I support THE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE FAST-FOOD CHAINS BECAUSE IT MAY HELP US COME TO REALIZE THAT OBESITY IS NOT A MORAL SHORTCOMING, BUT IS DUE TO AN ENVIRONMENTAL SHORTCOMING WHEREBY WE ARE VIRTUALLY SURROUNDED BY THE PRINCELY POTENTATES AND PURVEYORS OF HIGH-FAT FOODSTUFFS.

Parasitic funding

If Missouri TURNS TO TOLL ROADS TO RESOLVE ITS IMMINENT INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE, THEN WE WILL, BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MANY NON-MISSOURI RESIDENTS WHO DRIVE ON OUR ROADWAYS, REPLACE DELAWARE AS THE NATION'S MOST PARASITIC STATE.

Tax alcohol

I'M CALLING about the Cape Girardeau task force that recommended tax increases. Do the members of the task force seriously think anybody's going to approve these increases? This is ridiculous. If the city would learn how to spend its money more prudently, we wouldn't be going through all this. If the city wants a tax to produce more revenue, it needs to tax alcohol. Alcohol is one of the worst things you can buy that will kill you and everybody around you and destroy families. If you put more taxes on it, fewer people would be buying it and fewer people would be dying.

Tax, tax, tax

THE REPUBLICANS say the Democrats always want to raise taxes. Cape Girardeau is nothing but Republicans, and all you can hear is they want to raise taxes. All we are is tax, tax, tax.

Helping the economy

THIS IS for the grumpy grandpa who is mad at Alan Greenspan about the low interest rates. One of the Federal Reserve's primary missions is to fight inflation, which eats away at everyone's savings and standard of living. The current low interest rates reflect the fact that the Fed has been in this fight and that inflation is very low right now, which helps everyone. The Fed also lowers interest rates to encourage borrowing and business activity in a sluggish economy, which we have been experiencing for the past couple of years. Apparently, some people are more concerned about their own short-term sacrifices than about their grandchildren's future prosperity.

It's all about winning

THE DEMOCRATS after the Sept. 11 attacks talked about bipartisanship and pledged to give the Bush administration help and cooperation. They soon began a campaign of accusations, blame and character assassinations with memos and strategy on how to block and attack policies -- led by the Democratic Party's national leaders. It's not America first with Democrats. It's winning elections. When will America wake up to these facts?

Prescription benefits

ANGELA ZIMMER'S letter is the most outrageous distortion of the facts I have ever read. It was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who were fighting to provide prescription drug care for Americans. The Republican plan would have required all of us to receive our prescription benefits by using big mail-order drug companies as opposed to the Democratic plan which would have allowed you to get your medicine through your local pharmacy. Don't take my word for it. Contact your local pharmacist. Remember who's fighting for seniors and small business and vote for the Democratic candidates this fall.

Paying for new roads

IT MAY be all right to build a few new roads and put toll on them, but some of the older roads are 40 to 70 years old. I'm sure they've been paid for several times over.

Special Olympics winners

I WOULD like to offer congratulations to the Cape Independent Special Olympics softball teams. The teams spent the weekend in Jefferson City for a state competition. I'd like to offer my congratulations on a job well done. The Cape Tornadoes won the gold, and its sister team, the Cape Storm, won the silver. Way to go, guys.

Grass clogs sewers

I HAVE a comment regarding the William Street flooding mentioned in a Missourian article. The William Street flooding should be a lesson on how to prevent flooding problems from occurring. When cutting grass, the routine seems to be just blow it out into the streets, thinking the sewers will take care of it.

Preventing a problem

I WOULD like to make a comment about the sewer clogging on William Street. The rain was really refreshing, but flooding from the clogged sewer blocked traffic over William Street and was depressing to motorists. It could have been prevented. With a little foresight, problems such clogged sewers could have been alleviated. Dirt washing from the nearby construction area certainly didn't help either.

Don't attack Iraq

I DO not believe we should attack Iraq. It will be too expensive in loss of life and money. Other countries are not in favor of this. Recently, Jean Carnahan said that war with Iraq would stabilize the Middle East. The problem is all the nations over there want to get rid of Israel. I think all the leaders need to read Zachariah 12. At the present time, Israel's military is stepping up preparation to defend the country against missile strikes from Iraq if the U.S. attack Saddam Hussein. Israel will have to protect itself, and I believe other Arab nations will attack Israel too. America does not have to attack Iraq. God will take care of the all nations that come against Israel. Read Zachariah 12 and pray for peace of Jerusalem. And pray for America.

Killing mosquitoes

MOSQUITO CONTROL in Cape Girardeau is a joke. I have lived in the deep South for most of my life where cities are serious about spraying. I just read in the paper where Cape Girardeau is increasing the spraying to three times a week. It won't make a bit of difference, because the mosquito spray truck just passed my house. It was going about 40 mph with this little thread of the pesticide coming out. If you're really serious about mosquito control, do it right. You need enough of the chemical, and you need to go slow enough to disperse it properly. I don't understand why somebody doesn't find out what they're doing and why.

Bogus bill of goods

THIS IS to the caller who said conservatives are greedy because we don't want another social program to help the elderly. It's these kind of programs that get people in trouble in the first place. If these people could have invested their money instead of participating in the Social Security program, they would now be enjoying a much higher standard of living instead of just getting by. When election time comes, they better remember that it was a Democratic president named FDR who sold them this bogus bill of goods called Social Security.