Speak Out 9/25/12

Don't burn leaves

Autumn is upon us. The leaves will be changing to beautiful colors. Then they will fall to the ground. For family, friends and neighbors with breathing problems, please mow your leaves. Please do not burn the leaves.

China, free trade

Thank you, President Obama, for taking strong action against the Chinese for their ongoing refusal to play on a level playing field when it comes to free trade.

Obamanomics

Obamanomics is triumphing over Reaganomics because the trickle down theory has been totally discredited and the people know that an unregulated free market led to the financial meltdown that caused the Great Bush Depression. The fact that the president has caught, and perhaps surpassed, Mitt Romney in having the ability to sustain the recovery and bring us out of this mess speaks volumes for the wisdom of the American people in recognizing that Mitt Romney and the radical Republicans would adopt an economic plan that would have the effect of (intended or not) wiping out the long struggling middle class.

47 percent

Who makes up the 47 percent of American households who pay no federal income taxes? For a household with two children, they include those where the breadwinner is a private in the U.S. Army, farmworker, laborer, home health aide, meat cutter and ambulance driver, just to name a few. Most, if not all, of these households contribute payroll, state and sales taxes.

Middle class

President Obama believes in the redistribution of wealth, and I just thought it was talk until I found out that the school students who don't qualify for free or reduced meals are actually paying for those who do. The prices actually went up in order to recover more costs. The middle class gets hit twice. They're not only paying more taxes but having to subsidize others.

U.S., Greece

We are $16 trillion in debt, and if Obamacare gets fully implemented our nation will be bankrupt. People think that the checks will always go out, but they are dead wrong. Just look at Greece; people were rioting in the streets because their government went bankrupt trying to finance too many government handouts.

University parking

The university says motor scooter and motorcycle parking is changing to improve safety. It should be safer as there will be no one using the parking spaces. Lots of students use the library, but that now is off limits for motor scooters and motorcycles.

Stolen flowers

This is for the person who stole my flowerpot full of day lilies from near my mailbox. The lilies are from my grandmother's yard in Hornersville, Mo., and they are all I had left of her. Do take care of the flowers and enjoy them as I have done for the past 40 years.

Obama, black voters

Why oh why does 95 percent of the black community continue to support Barack Obama so strongly? It has to be simply because he's black. It can't be because of anything he's done for the black community. He has ignored them just as he's ignored everyone else. The only groups he pays attention to are those special groups whose votes he needs. He knows he has the black vote, so he completely ignores the needs of the black community. Maybe one of these days they will wake up and see him for what he is, just a politician who wants to stay in power and who really doesn't care about anyone but himself.

Broadway

The new Broadway is beautiful. Hope the mayor and city council like it, as they are probably about the only ones that will be using it. The only time I go downtown is to get car licenses or maybe pay taxes, and then I use Independence Street or William Street. Traffic moves faster on those streets.