Speak Out A 01/04/02

Trade counterattack

COMING ON the heels of the wretched and reprehensible granting of permanent normal trade relations with an ever more repressive China, state Sen. Peter Kinder's paean to the alleged palliative of free trade will serve as a rallying cry to economic nationalists everywhere and precipitate a verbal counterattack exposing knee-jerk support for no-strings-attached free trade as cynical, chamber of commerce-style propaganda and a further barrier to promoting worldwide political freedom.

A scary thought

THANK YOU to the person who was as disturbed as I am about some recent comments in Speak Out. For people who hate terrorists and the Taliban so much, they sound an awful lot like those oppressive governors. So many people in this area are racist or think less of women and homosexuals. And those ideas of demons, wizardry and not teaching evolution are just plain scary. Maybe our society will be governed by ultra-conservative religious types some day, and these people will lead us. Scary.

Malevolent rules

THOUGH DAVID Limbaugh continues to toot the horn of the Thomas Torquemada of the Heartland, John Ashcroft, wiser heads seem to be prevailing. Torquemada presided over the medieval Spanish Inquisition. Ashcroft's malevolent rules for military tribunals make the analogy with Torquemada an apt one. The good news is that across-the-political-spectrum criticism of Ashcroft's rules is apparently going to lead to their modification in such a way that we will be able to keep America safe without subverting American-style justice. Limbaugh says he feels safe being on Ashcroft's side. No doubt. It is his courageous critics who are likely considered by Ashcroft to be suspect and who are consequently subject to a midnight knock on the door.

What disgrace?

WHOEVER WROTE the capsule summaries of movies currently showing in Cape described Muhammed Ali's return to boxing when he took on Joe Frazier and then George Foreman as an "infamous comeback." I assume the writer has his reasons. I would like to read why he considers Ali's glorious comeback a disgrace.

Hee-haw sensibility

HERE WE go again. Another liberal comes into Speak Out calling names because he knows that the conservatives are right. He refers to people in this area as "hee-hawers." I have seen "hee-hawers" with more common sense in there pinky fingers than he has in his whole head.

Help the consumer

HAS ANYONE out there besides me ever dropped movie and game returns off at the wrong store by mistake? From a consumer's point of view, one might think that as a courtesy to consumers and the competition the retailers would set up an exchange system, especially in a town this size, to rescue the crazy renters who unknowingly are accumulating late fees and a bad reputation as a video renter. Couldn't the retailers call their competitors once a week or so on a slow day to rescue these unfortunate souls who live in ignorance until the nasty note arrives in the mail or they pay their next visit to the store?

County jail con

EVER WONDER why people do not trust politicians? One reason is because they break trust with the taxpayer. If memory serves me, the justification for the new Cape Girardeau County Jail was along the lines that more space was needed as well as more modern facilities. Now, however, we find out that all the extra space was not needed. In fact there is so much excess space that the county is boarding federal prisoners. This is, of course, better than the excess cells sitting there empty. I am not taking issue with the money being generated. I am taking issue with the fact that the taxpayers were hoodwinked. If the sheriff and the county commissioners wanted us to engage in the hotel business, why didn't they say so in the first place? I hate it when politicians con me.

Twisting in the wind

A GREAT big thanks to President Bush for modifying Attorney General John Ashcroft's draconian rules for ad hoc military tribunals and restoring integrity to our judicial system. In so doing, he may have left the likes of Ashcroft, the brothers Limbaugh and Jim Talent twisting in the wind for their vigorous defense of Ashcroft, but they will get over it.