Speak Out 9/18/11

Great teacher

READING in Speak Out about great teachers, I would like to applaud Mr. Lewis, second grade teacher at St. Vincent's School in Cape Girardeau. He is a wonderful teacher and he deserves nothing but praise. He's caring and concerned about the little ones. It's a great impact on their lives to have somebody like him when they're so young to do the nice things that he does, and I think that he's a wonderful teacher. My grandson was a little leery about having a man teacher because he's had all women teachers, and he just thinks Mr. Lewis is awesome.

Unions needed

TEACHERS and nurses are indeed professionals. However, in answer to a Speak Out comment, many belong to unions because, though often patronized, they aren't treated as professionals and join unions to try to get assistance in getting the wages, benefits, working conditions and other protections they deserve.

Jobs plan

IT is obvious Obama has no confidence in his proposed jobs plan. He has asked for even more money for extended unemployment benefits. If his jobs plan was effective, there would be more people working and fewer people on unemployment. But then again, he believes that paying people not to work is an economic stimulus. If that were the case, we would be in an economic boom.

Bank layoffs

BANK of America is laying off 30,000 people. Let's raise taxes. That should cure the problem. Let's see, what kind of government jobs can we offer those folks? Will out-of-work bank employees be interested in "shovel ready" jobs? Oh well, the president will figure it out.

Other team names

AS a Caucasian of Irish decent I am highly offended by the following sports teams' names and mascots and demand that they immediately be changed or dropped: New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Boston Celtics, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Vikings, Purdue Boilermakers, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners and Indiana Hoosiers. In addition, I also find the name New York Giants offensive to tall people and want that changed, too.

War protests

THE anti-war activists who were publicly protesting in Cape Girardeau were expressing their opposition to the unjustified and unnecessary war in Iraq, a war President Obama has wound down.

Higher taxes

FROM the 1940s through the 1970s our country prospered and became the dominate power in the world. This was during a period of very high tax brackets for the extremely wealthy (up to 90 percent). This was not a coincidence. When it is expensive for the wealthy to take their money out of their businesses, they leave it in and grow the business.

Fighting Irish

I'M of Irish descent and the Notre Dame University mascot offends me. Let's do something about that.

Change mascot

I hope the Jackson School will take some action to change their mascot from an Indian, which is derogatory, to the Native Americans. We've got Bulldogs, we've got Redhawks, we've got Tigers, we've got Rams, we've got Eagles. Surely the school board and the superintendent can pick out something that's not derogatory to Native Americans.

Children's safety

On Sept. 9, my 12-year-old grandson was playing outside his home with his friend. A car pulled from the main street next to the boys. A man jumped out and grabbed my grandson's personal PlayStation. My grandson asked for it back. When he reached for it, the man started hitting him in the face and the PSP fell and broke. My grandson received multiple lacerations to face and trauma to his head. His glasses were broken in four places. The assailant got into his car and drove away. What kind of person would do this to a child? What has our society become? It's time to take action. Our children are our future and without them we have nothing.