Speak Out A 02/06/03

Like an old movie

IT REALLY makes me sick to my stomach every time I turn the TV on and all I hear is President Bush pushing the issue of war. It is like watching an old movie. Wake up, America. You'd better enjoy all your precious time with your loved ones, because come hell or high water we will go to war no matter how many people get killed. Bush should be worrying about the United States and taking care of his own people.

Sloppy justice

I SEE the same names in the police report day after day, week after week, month after month for things like no operator's license, no proof of insurance, burglary, armed criminal action, possession of controlled substance, failure to appear and leaving the scene of an accident. But the same people keep getting arrested and turned loose. Why? These people have no jobs to pay their way through life, so they always slide by. But some poor old working boy who has worked all his life and paid his share of taxes goes out and has a couple of beers and gets caught. He loses his license, has to pay for a lawyer, has to pay for going to jail, has to pay to go to treatment, has to pay court costs and has to pay fines. This world is so backward. It makes no sense at all.

Using up sick days

ONE OF my son's teachers is out two and three days every week and has been most of the year. He told the kids he's retiring at the end of the year, so he's using up all his sick days. Why didn't the district tell him to retire at Christmas? This is unfair to the kids. I questioned this earlier in the year and got no where with anybody. People in the school office acted like I was being unreasonable. I expect a little better for my child and for his education than a teacher who's only there two and sometimes three days a week. This should not be allowed to happen again.

Need a hangout

WHERE DO they go when the mall closes? Young people need a place to go where they can turn up their music and get loud. Cape Girardeau has an 11 p.m. curfew for those under 17. That leaves 17-to-20-year-olds looking for a place to hang out. If you don't want them drinking, then help. I'm sure there are businesses and city leaders that can find a place between Cape and Jackson to build a young adults hangout.

Student conduct

SCHOOLS CAN and should hold students accountable for their conduct out of school. Students who do not get in trouble with the law deserve the right to represent our schools. Neither are schools always to blame for the mistakes of students. The law, parents and schools have an obligation to teach students the consequences of their decisions and actions. We should stop making excuses for them simply because they are not 21 years old.

Vaccine reaction

MY SON was 6 years old 36 years ago. He had the smallpox vaccine, and one week later he had convulsions, breaking out seven teeth. The doctor gave him a spinal tap to rule out other causes. He was unconscious for a day and a half and then had spells of pain that drenched him with sweat. He was in the hospital seven days. The doctor called it vaccinal encephalitis. So I don't know if I would give my child another smallpox vaccination.

Marketplace issue

LET THE market determine if there's a desire for a Beverly Hillbillies reality show. If there are people willing to be contestants and people willing to watch it, then that should determine it. I don't think we need anyone telling us what we can and cannot do.

Proud of the president

I WANT to say how proud I am of the State of the Union speech delivered by President Bush. He got the country on his side except for the ones who are always against anything he does. It's been so long -- 1989 to be exact -- since we had a president we can be really proud of, and I am so proud of President Bush. He's trying to do the right thing. If we follow him, we will do the right thing.

Attacking terrorists

WOULD THAT those terrorists who attacked America felt the same way these anti-war protesters feel, America would not have been attacked. But the terrorists did attack, and America will attack the perpetrators and their cohorts and destroy them as they destroyed and killed 3,000 innocent Americans.

Price of searching

THE SPACE shuttle Columbia's tragic end and loss of seven astronauts is another price paid for man's search for the secrets and exploration of the heavens. The astronauts know the danger. Shock and grief is still, nevertheless, overwhelming. God bless them all and their loved ones. But man will always not only search the universe wanting knowledge, but all of the wonders of our existence. These heroes and pioneers are some of the brightest we have. Maybe God will take care of them.

Having it both ways

THESE REPUBLICANS want improvement. They don't like the governor's budget cuts. They don't like raising taxes. They don't want to do without. They hate taxes. I think they're just malcontents. They want their cake, and they want to eat it all the way through. They want to go to war, but they don't like to pay heavier taxes. They don't want national health care. You cannot have improvements and not have taxes. You can't have it both ways.

Oil for medicine

I'M SURE Tom Sager of the Veterans for Peace realizes that the cease-fire agreement allowed Iraq to sell oil sufficient to cover medical needs, which would probably include the water treatment plants that he is concerned about. I wonder if, during the four trips he made to Iraq, he held any demonstrations to encourage Saddam Hussein to use this money for its intended purpose rather than building palaces for himself and heaping lavishness on himself.

Tax-cut fairness

THE FIRST tax cut was a $300 tax rebate to everybody who paid income taxes. Because there are more people who pay low income taxes than there are people who pay high income taxes, the rebates mostly went to people with low income taxes. This lie that President Bush is only out to help the rich has been spread so often that he's gone overboard to make sure that he's more than fair with low income earners.

Potential monster

WE MUST be careful of monsters we seek to destroy least we become the monster.

Taxation logic

THE TOP 50 percent of wage earners in the United States pay 96 percent of all federal taxes. Apparently, the uninformed think people in the lowest income brackets should get the largest tax cuts even though they pay practically no federal taxes. I've got a 5-year-old grandson who would understand the logic of giving tax cuts to the people who pay the taxes, yet logic is something that completely escapes the minds of these "distribute the wealth" socialists.

Government kids

WE SHOULD all be glad and thank God that nobody was so smart in our day. I'm 73 years old. If people had been as smart then as they are today, none of us would have a mama and daddy. We'd all belong to the federal government.

A place to go

PERRYVILLE, MO., has its park center for young people. Cape Girardeau has the Osage Centre for youth activities. When is Jackson going to wake up and realize that things like the bonfire incident might not have happened if the Jackson kids had a center where they could go and do things?

Downtown tombstone

ANOTHER TOMBSTONE has been laid for the downtown area in Cape Girardeau. I was shocked, and so were many others, that Union Planters Bank is closing on Broadway. What convenience is it for customers to drive across town to do their banking? The personnel at Broadway are not only efficient, but have made the bank more a family institution than just a place of business.

IN THE deserved praise he gave local business award winner Mike Kohlfeld, I can finally say I have found common ground with David Limbaugh.

Peace Corps for teens

WHERE DID teenagers get the idea they need to be entertained every minute? I have a suggestion: Develop a program like Peace Corps for teenagers where they could spend a few months in a Third World country working to help make a difference. I think attitudes would change.

Daydreaming about Iraq

SOME U.N. Security Council members said they preferred to disarm Iraq peacefully. How preposterous and irrational. Just how would they go about that? Ask Saddam Hussein to give up his weapons of mass destruction? Do they actually think this cruel dictator would oblige? These Security Council members are daydreaming and not facing reality. When their countries are attacked by these covert terrorists, they might wake up.

Jail is needed

SCOTT COUNTY does need a new jail, as you so eloquently stated in your editorial. My only concern would be that it might become empty and unneeded if we elected the likes of Illinois Gov. George Ryan.

It's in the Constitution

TO THE person who commented that the anti-war protesters are treasonous: It is never treason to exercise your democratic freedom to speak your mind, freely assemble and generally disagree with your government. Pick up a copy of the Constitution if you don't believe me.