Speak Out A 02/11/02

Truly hilarious

HEIDI HALL had me laughing with glee with her "Mothman comes, wife goeth" column. This young woman is truly hilarious, and that's a good thing.

Pulling out the stops

THE WONDERFUL Democrats who never throw stones or judge anyone are trying to tie the slumping economy on President Bush. The economy started to go south months before his election. With an election coming up in November, they are pulling out all stops to blame, smear, demonize and degrade their opposition. The truth doesn't matter. Most can see through this farce of praising him for his leadership against terrorism, knowing of his approval rating, then stabbing him back with the next sentence.

Unfair criticism

SOMEONE MADE the comment about U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan and the Enron donation she gave to charity. The caller asked why she didn't give it back to the employees of Enron. Well, why didn't U.S. Sen. Kit Bond give back what they gave him for his campaign? Why didn't John Ashcroft give it back to the employees? I think if it were Bill Clinton going through this, it would be one big scandal going on. They'd be out to get him right and left. But I notice the Southeast Missourian and people in this area are awful quiet on it.

Leave it alone

IF PRESIDENT Bush uses Social Security for means other than what it's meant for, it would be as bad as what Enron has done to its employees. Only he would be taking from the elderly. Social Security is put up for one thing and one thing only.

Girls teams are better

AS A casual observer, why do the Central High School and SEMO girls basketball teams do so much better than the boys. This seems to be consistent year after year. I wonder why this happens.

Plenty of dough

THE OPINION page identifies the tobacco money as the state's slush fund. I think it would be more appropriate to name it the state's sugar daddy.

Good police work

I WOULD like to congratulate Cathy Raines who works at the police department in Cape Girardeau. I had to deal with her just recently and she was just very professional and very nice, and I'd just like to thank her for doing such a good job.

Paying taxes

THE IRS statistics showed that the top 1 percent of taxpayers in 1975 paid 18.7 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 50 percent paid 92.9 percent of all income taxes in 1975, meaning the bottom 50 percent paid just 7.1 percent. In the years since, the figures show, the share of total federal income taxes paid by the top 1 percent of taxpayers has doubled since 1975. In 1999, they paid 36.2 percent. Between 1975 and 1999, the top 50 percent of taxpayers paid 96 percent of all taxes, while the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers now pay just 4 percent of federal income taxes. Greater knowledge about how much the wealthy actually pay in taxes is a powerful antidote to class warfare. If the voters are misled by the facts, they can make mistakes and vote for demagogues who hate the rich simply because they are rich. I hope in another 24 years this trend will reverse itself, or socialism will destroy this country.

Listen to children

WHY IS it judges, lawyers, concerned parents and grandparents cannot open their eyes, ears and hearts to listen to what children have to say? We are concerned parents and grandparents. We have been to court with our children and grandchildren on custody and visitation battles. The children are called into court, but they are never heard. Why? Don't the judges and lawyers think the children know what they want from the parents and grandparents? The children should have the right to choose whether or not they want visitation. The children shouldn't be forced to do what they are not comfortable with.

Paving streets

WE VOTED to have the roads in Cape fixed. Gravel streets were supposed to be fixed too. The city paved Mason, Pearl and Fountain streets. They didn't ask the people. They just paved it. Down here in the south end of Cape, they paved Beaudean Lane. And what happens? They send the property owners a bill, just like they did on Gordon Lane and Capaha Trail. When they wanted sewers and streets out in the west part of town, they voted. I guess the people on Beaudean Lane and Fountain and Pearl streets have to pay for everybody else's street. Is this right? No.

Use the back burner

SINCE PRESIDENT Bush has deducted several hundred thousand dollars from SEMO's budget this year, surely the officials of this city and the president of the university will put the River Campus on the back burner. We've got no money to spend on such foolishness at this time.

It's always a baby

YOU WANT to know when a baby becomes a baby? Don't you really know? It's when an egg meets a sperm and it starts generating. There is a child born there, and there is a child that you can abort if you do an abortion right then and there. And if you do it later, you're going to be a murderer. So think about what you're doing and go get help.

Murderers go free

HOW DO these mothers who have abortions think they got here? They started as a fetus. Or do they think the stork brought them? Abortion is murder, period. All other murderers are convicted in this country. Why not mothers who murder? Why are mothers who murder allowed to go free?

Art in peril

WAS IT really necessary to spend taxpayer dollars to cover the bare breasts of statues in the Justice Department? I hope we don't send this self-appointed censor, Attorney General John Ashcroft, abroad. Michaelangelo's statue of David and other works of art might not be safe.

Devastating cuts

IT SURE is amazing how all those Democrats love to talk about how much they love education, but when it comes to raising taxes to pay for that, they're certainly adverse to that. If this wasn't an election year, of course, the massive tax increase would have already been proposed instead of spending cuts, which are going to devastate Southeast Missouri State University and cause a layoff of as many as 50 or 60 people.

Poplar problems

I HAD a neighbor once who planted a fast-growing poplar in her front yard. It made me so grateful I hadn't planted one because the roots got underneath her house and messed up her sewer system. It was just a constant expense for her dealing with the roots to this tree. So I would think twice. I'd make sure any tree is a long way from my property line or my house before getting a fast-growing poplar tree.

Bashing Australia

AUSTRALIA is an "also-ran?" I'm sure they'd love to hear that down under. You know, it's that kind of American arrogance that makes me want to get out of this disgusting country even faster.

Better than Puritans

If I had the money, I'd move to Australia first thing. I'd much rather be in the company of its logical, reasonable, modern "convicts" than with our current Puritan government, which seems to think we're still in the 1600s.

Bottom of the list

I would like to respond to "Cultural progress." Before a large company moves to a city, it decides if the new location has a population base to fill the work force it will need. Then the number of professional sporting teams are taken into account. Culture and art are toward the bottom of the list. If culture and art brought new business, the president would be giving every town in America a culture and arts center as an economic package.