Speak Out A 02/10/02

Personhood question

TO PROTECT the unborn, they must have the status of "person." The U.S. Constitution protects a person, not a human. Yes, this sounds stupid, but this is how our court system works. Human life begins at conception. The question is, when does personhood begin?

Low compliance

A RECENT Speak Out caller correctly identified a serious safety issue on and around the Southeast Missouri State University campus. Pedestrian crosswalks are dangerous for pedestrians. The only important point that was missed by the caller was that the law requires motorists to stop for pedestrians at official crosswalks. Ask any of the thousands of people who get around the campus on foot if they have observed motorists obeying that law. The percentage is around 1 percent compliance with the law.

Not a good smell

WHEN ASKED about a special prosecutor being appointed to investigate the Enron scandal, George Bush answered, "My justice department will do the investigating." This smells of corruption.

Support the university

I DON'T know what all the ballyhoo about the proliferation of administrators at Southeast Missouri State University is about. I believe the president has described how the report in the Missourian was misleading regarding this abuse. Southeast Missouri State has been a good steward over the years and has only added administrators when needed. The university does not have any more administrators than any other university in Missouri when comparing apples to apples. In fact, it has made strides to reduce the number of positions wherever possible. I think it's high time that this community starts speaking up in support of this university rather than tearing it down. I can't imagine what kind of town this would be without this great university and with Ken Dobbins leading it.

What it says

I AM so glad that David Limbaugh actually reads the Constitution and realizes that there's a difference between what the Constitution says and what the Supreme Court says it says. Legally, the courts follow the Supreme Court, and if the Supreme Court says there's separation of church and state, that's what the courts follow. But if you read the Constitution, it's never mentioned. In fact, under the Constitution, states and cities could have their own religion as they once did. Virginia was Anglican, and Pennsylvania was Quaker. There can constitutionally be church-run states. It's not a good idea, and I don't think we ought to do it, but it could happen. It's just the Supreme Court has said the Constitution says otherwise.

Wrong role model

WHEN I think of the young people who have called Speak Out and told how they're trying to be celibate until they're married, it saddens me when someone like Nelly, this so-called hip-hop singer, is proud of who he is, which is not following Christ's example. Instead, he proudly proclaims that he is who he is, which must include premarital sex since he sings about it and about heavy drug use. One hit song does not a star make.

Cuts go too far

IN RESPONSE to Gov. Bob Holden's budget cuts: If he is so much for the working people of Missouri, how can he possibly cut the legs right out from under us? The budget cuts that he has proposed will punish our state's educators and the children who rely on the state to give them the education they are entitled to have. Under federal and state law, any child who has a qualifying disability is entitled to an individualized education plan to include necessary therapy to help him function in a classroom. These funds that allow our Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide these services are in jeopardy. To the working-class families of Missouri who do not have Medicaid, I beg you to remember our children and to exclude them from these devastating budget cuts that you've proposed.