Speak Out 9/18/05

Bring back the CCC

HURRICANE KATRINA brought back memories of my days in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. We had trucks to carry food and equipment, and we were there to help in floods, ice storms or any other emergency as needed. We got $30 a month. Of that, $25 went home, and we got $5 for ourselves. I've always said that if we had the CCC today, we would not need all the prisons we have. In 1933, Chicago crime dropped 57 percent when the CCC started. People would work if they had the opportunity. God bless the CCC boys.

Need more experience

I AM bothered by the fact that President Bush has nominated John Roberts to be chief justice. That position should go to someone who has more experience and is already serving on the Supreme Court. This man, if approved, will likely spend the next 30 years on the Supreme Court. In light of Hurricane Katrina and the FEMA fiasco, do we really want an inexperienced Bush-nominated chief justice to serve in such a position of power?

Self-help needed

HAVE YOU ever wondered why people depend on other people to provide for them in time of emergency? I saw TV coverage of Hurricane Katrina victims complaining that no one is there to help. If the TV crews can get to where these people are, they should be able to get out. I believe in helping people, but people need to help themselves too. You can only do so much. Let's give these people a hand up, not a handout.

Hey, that's where I live!

IT WAS discomforting to hear ABC News report that, of the terrible lack of preparedness for potential natural disaster areas, the top spot on the list belonged to those who lived in and around the New Madrid earthquake fault.

Employment advice

I HAVE encountered a problem which I would like some advice on. I have hired a disabled person. She does an excellent job and gets along very well with her co-workers. She is a joy to work with. The problem is our customers. Often when she attempts to wait on them, they ask if someone else can help them, sometimes quite rudely. She takes it well, but I know it must hurt her inside. Is there any law or regulation that can be brought to bear on those customers who behave in this manner? As a business owner, I cannot enforce any rule about this. There are plenty of other places for my customers to do their business. I am walking a fine line. I don't want to discharge an employee because customers won't let her do her job.

Moral ugliness

HURRICANE KATRINA exposed the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider normal behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men. The welfare state -- and the uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages -- is the manmade disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. That is a story that no one is reporting.

Sending help

TO THOSE of you who have been complaining about other states and cities sending help to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and wondering what would happen if we had an earthquake or a natural disaster here: I don't think you are worried about that at all. I think you are complaining about who the aid is going to. I think a natural disaster here would get a great amount of help from other states too. Just because people who did not have a lot in the beginning and now have nothing have a need does not make them worth any less.

Fashion pressure

FASHION DICTATES the way young women dress. If it's in, young women will buy it. I don't know how much parents can influence a child, but certainly they can influence their sons. Some girls think they need to compete because young men are watching porn flicks. Who do you think is going across the river to that sleazy joint? The movie industry also puts a lot of pressure on young women. They have to compete. Otherwise, they might miss the person of their dreams. I blame the fashion industry for putting out some of the styles that are over the top.

Qualified judges

JUDGE JOHN Roberts looks like he's going to be an excellent chief justice of the United States, and now the president has to nominate an associate justice. I hope he finds another person who believes the U.S. Constitution and wants to apply it.

Blessings for all

WHEN JESUS blessed the children, he didn't say "Let me see, I'll pick out this child to bless and not that child." I don't think it's right when people say Jesus wouldn't help everybody or he wouldn't help a panhandler.

Selfish thoughts

WE'VE HAD some wicked tornadoes and have been declared a federal disaster area. We have floods and hard winters sometimes that could turn into a major disaster. Let's say we had a major winter storm that kept us from heating our homes and we were in danger of freezing to death. Somebody who lives on the Gulf Coast might say, "I don't know why I have to pay the tax burden. They chose to live in that area. That's their own choosing." How selfish have we become.

No to changes

Every one of those proposed city charter changes is wrong