Speak Out 9/24/05

Don't put it off

WE ALL know the old saying, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today." We should heed this warning when it comes to earthquakes and emergency preparedness. We have seen what happened to New Orleans. Let's pick up where we left off after the Iben Browning scare a few years ago. Maybe the time has come for all agencies to inform and involve all communities concerned.

Overshadowing

AS SHOWN once again in his recent column, David Limbaugh clings to Bronze Age beliefs in invisible beings and places no more substantial than Zeus, the Elysian Fields and Hades. Meanwhile, he conveniently forgets that the phrase "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, in fear of those Godless commies, in the 1950s. Unlike folks life Thomas Jefferson, Limbaugh is all too willing to let his God-obsessed aspirations overshadow any hint of humanism, empiricism, or ecumenism. I wonder if his innermost heart is as filled with profound doubt as his loudly voiced certitude would suggest.

Can't pick and choose

THE COMMENTS about not using tax dollars to rebuild New Orleans are ridiculous. I can't think of anywhere in the country that is impervious to disaster. Many people on the coasts didn't want to bail us out in 1993. They said, "Don't build next to rivers that flood." This country will always have hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, droughts and blizzards. We can't pick and choose who to help.

Keeping up with costs

IF ANYONE thinks elected officials should find ways to lower cost for city services, I would like for them to explain how it could be done when the price of everything always goes up. Look at fuel prices. They go up for the city too. Citizens expect police officers to show up when they are called to an emergency. They expect fire trucks to respond to fires. Snow plows have to travel the streets when snow falls. How do you do that without using fuel? How do you repair concrete and asphalt streets without paying more for the materials needed to make the repairs? Fees and taxes need to be raised along with the increases in cost. The only way to reduce costs is for the city to stop doing the very things every citizen expects it to do. Fees have to be increased, or services need to be cut.

At the trough

WITH THE president expecting to spend $200 billion to rebuild Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, will the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau give back some of the $5 million in federal pork reserved for the new I-55 interchange, or will they belly up to the trough and dig in? Cape Girardeau and Jackson expected to get $5.8 million from the federal government to pay for the interchange. When U.S. Sen. Kit Bond and U.S. Sen. Jim Talent each got $5 million for the project and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson got an additional $800,000, our local officials developed snouts and pot bellies and started to feed at the trough. I thought our elected officials considered themselves conservatives.

Paying blackmail

TIME AND time again the Bush administration told North Korea the U.S. would not be blackmailed into giving concessions so that North Korea would abandon its nuclear-weapons program. Finally, the North Koreans agreed. Why? Because we caved and acceded to blackmail. Guess what? North Korea is said to want more. What will we give that country next? South Korea?

Big government

PEGGY NOONAN wrote that it's time for conservatives to address a whole host of questions, "including the very nature and purpose of modern conservatism." The prescient Noonan is surprisingly calling for such as discussion after the horse is already out of the barn. Modern-day American conservatism has become big-government liberalism. As a result of that, I am thrilled beyond belief.

Just one side

MANY YEARS ago, I read a Chinese proverb that said if you didn't know enough about a subject to argue either side of it, you didn't know enough about that subject to argue. I think that would apply to a lot of people calling Speak Out. They're one-sided people.

Work not started

I LIVE on Jefferson Street. The city received a block grant last year for our street, but the city still hasn't started work on this side of town. The city uses us because of our income to get block grants and then uses the money somewhere else. Now the city has received money for a bridge overlook. And the SEMO crime lab has received a grant. I guarantee you these projects will be started before any work on Jefferson. We're going to file complaints to make them do what they told us they were going to do: upgrade some of the homes on this side of town.

Paying for sports

I'M OUTRAGED that student athletes have to pay an activities fee to participate in sports. These fees should be spread out among all taxpayers whether or not they have children or whether or not those children choose to participate in sports.

Pay for cleanup

WHY DOESN'T the government pay the people being evacuated to clean up the mess in their own community or city? That would be a lot cheaper than transporting the National Guard down there to do that. I think they're missing the boat.

Pretty good odds

GARY RUST sure has a way with words. He seems to think it's OK to pollute with toxins and carcinogens. He scoffs at the need to spend money to clean up PCBs, because they are only "probable" carcinogens. But remember, Hurricane Katrina was only probably the cause for the flooding in New Orleans, and a bullet between the eyes will only probably kill you.

Expand horizons

CAN THE SEMO District Fair board please include something besides the redneck festivals and country music? It's time for Cape Girardeau to get some culture for a change. The fair ignores anyone who is not white and Christian and loves country music.

Good work, MoDOT

KUDOS TO the caller who recently praised the Missouri Department of Transportation for its I-55 effort north of Fruitland. MoDOT has wrongly served as a whipping boy for gutless politicians who have turned a blind eye to Missouri's miserable road conditions. MoDOT has always been ready to address these problems but could not act without support from state legislators and the governor. I hope those days are behind us.

Get a real magnet

DO YOU drive to other states and spend money to stand at the end of an old bridge? When will Cape Girardeau realize we need something that will actually bring tourists here. Cape is the perfect spot for a casino.

Funeral disrespect

A DEAR aunt passed away in Cape Girardeau. The funeral procession was a rather long one, as she was dearly loved not just by family, but by many people in this community. Despite the length of the procession, cars pulled over showing respect. As we approached the intersection of William Street and Kingshighway, I noticed traffic had stopped at all intersections to let the procession proceed. My gratitude for this amazing show of respect quickly faded when a vehicle sped through the intersection and in between the cars of the funeral procession. I was appalled by the disrespect.

At the pole

THE SEE You at the Pole event at all the Jackson schools was a spiritual experience for me. To see all these young adults gathering at the pole to praise and pray to our God was moving. If I could give them one message it would be to keep it up and continue to spread his Word. Your going to prove that no matter how hard they try to keep God out of our schools, it's not going to happen. God bless you all.