Speak Out 9/8/08

What gall

I find it laughable that the Obama campaign has the gall to question the background and experience of a sitting governor to be vice president. Has Barack Obama run anything larger than a street protest in South Chicago, much less a state?

Stop the attacks

It appalls me that so many people are personally attacking Mrs. Palin. I think it is honorable that she is willing to serve this country. It shouldn't matter how many people she has governed. What truly matters are her principles and how she carries them out. I have been nothing but impressed with her character and integrity so far. Perhaps her critics are lambasting her because they feel threatened by what she would bring to the election and her impending term as vice president.

Palin for president

Sarah Palin for president! Er, whoops, I mean vice president!

Where will Limbaugh fall?

David Limbaugh, are you going to stand for John McCain's declaration of divorce from the Bush administration? Are you, a man of presumably unquestionable principle, going to abandon the man you have consistently defended, even in his darkest hours? History may judge George Bush to be a much better chief executive than his current popularity indicates. Where do you stand?

Broken vows

As a lifelong Republican and a Christian I cannot vote for John McCain for the same reason I could not vote for Ronald Reagan. Both of these men divorced their wives after extramarital affairs. A man who cannot keep his vow to honor his wife will not keep his vow to honor the American people.

The opponent is ...

Memo to John McCain: You are running against Barack Obama, not President Bush.

McCain's illusion

If you want more government by illusion, McCain is for you. How can a candidate who has voted 90 percent of the time with the Bush-Cheney party line bring change? He has been in the Senate 25 years building up a long track record of special-interest debts. McCain is the past. And in his campaign he's trying to persuade you that he is both a classic right-wing Republican and a bringer of change. Sorry, John, you cannot be both the past and the future.

Pregnancy children

In response to the VP pick Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter being pregnant, does it matter? I am a very family-oriented person and became pregnant as a teenager myself. Teenagers are going to make mistakes, but as parents we cannot hover over them constantly and keep them from growing up. I would be more inclined to question Mrs. Palin's parenting skills considering she has four smaller children at home, one that is special needs, and yet continues in a career that is emotionally taxing and keeps her away from home a lot.

Value for taxes

I keep hearing how the Democrats want to increase our taxes. I did some checking and found that under Bill Clinton my taxes were only $25 a month more than today. However, we had a lot more social and educational programs then. Let's face facts. In order to balance the budget, there is no way around raising taxes unless we keep borrowing from China like Bush is doing. But sooner or later someone has to pay that back. I have no problem having $5 a week taken from my check if it will help education, social programs for the poor and pay off the budget. Remember, you can't get something for nothing.

If it were revised

Certainly the unfortunate story of Bristol Palin's pregnancy has no place in the political debate -- but what would the right wing 'social conservatives' be saying if it were Barack Obama's daughter who were unmarried and pregnant? Would they be so supportive? Food for thought, kids. Obama in statewide election

I WAS reading your article by your Republican press and I read in there that Palin has been through a statewide election but Obama has not. I guess you don't know that a senator from a state is elected by the whole state and not just one county. So therefore he has been through a statewide election too. You should really check your facts between you print stuff in your paper.

No experience

I SEE where there's a lot made about a vice president been chosen that had no foreign policy experience. That is against a presidential nominee who has no foreign policy experience. I don't really understand which is worse, a vice president with no foreign policy experience or a president with no foreign policy experience. That's kind of puzzling.

Public meetings

THIS IN regards to Gerald Jones' comments in the Saturday, Aug. 30 paper. His words were "if we can go into closed sessions, that's the way we'll handle it. If we can't go into closed sessions, I'm just not going to tell Jay Purcell about it." Well, how is he going to tell Larry Bock about it? They're not supposed to have meetings with just the two of them. This is against the Sunshine Law. How are we supposed to trust this commissioner without tax money? He obviously doesn't care about doing things the right way.

Answering to the people

I CAN'T believe Gerald Jones says he'll leave Jay Purcell out of open meetings if he records them. Mr. Jones, you didn't elect him. The people of Cape County did. You and Morley Swingle do not run Cape County. If either of you had someone running against you, I'm sure you both would be out of work.

Electric bill issues

I GOT a nice letter from the electric company today saying that even though my balance is $0, because of late payments, they're going to start putting a monthly deposit on my bill. Now, doesn't that make sense? If people are having trouble paying their bill but they do, let's make their bill higher. Let's give them more trouble. This is ridiculous and the electric company needs to step up and take a look at what they're doing.

The club

THE COUNTY Road 532 fiasco is just another example of the good old boys club alive and well within our county commission. It's absurd to waste tax dollars on a road that has a traffic count of six vehicles per day. I live on County Road 254 which supports traffic for 20-plus families, three cemeteries, school buses and through traffic from Highway 25 to State Route N. Our traffic count averages in the hundreds per day. Mr. Bock stated if the need to fix the road is there, it's there. I totally agree. If the road is as busy as County Road 254, but how does six cars per day justify a need, Mr. Bock? Our road and bridge advisory board is being disrespected by arrogant county commissioners. One of these commissioners is on a tape talking about his authority to abolish the advisory board. This is the same man that has a friend owning property on County Road 532. No favoritism, the man says. Hogwash.

Other cities in the south

HERE WE go again. We've got a major storm coming into the Gulf Coast. According to the news media, New Orleans is the only city down there. I was fooled. I thought there were a lot of cities down that way.

Go for it, Redhawks

WE ALL know that SEMO is getting paid to play football at Mizzou for money. But if you studied the game film against Illinois, you can throw the long pass and you can beat the Mizzou secondary. Go for it.