Speak Out A 03/02/02

Do as I say, not ...

"ENOUGH ON George Bush," bellowed a Speak Out caller who then proceeded to give an extraordinarily lengthy pro-Bush propaganda spiel.

Another plea bargain

AMEN TO the Speak Out caller criticizing Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle for allowing a child molester to plead to reduced charges. When you have enough evidence to convict someone, why let a person of this character back on the street? All I can say is if you have the money and a good attorney, justice can be yours. If ever I find myself wanting to break a few laws, I'll know what attorney to hire and what county to commit my crime in. How disgusting.

Government meddling

THE CONSERVATIVE philosophy is supposed to oppose government intervention into citizens' private lives. George Bush proposes that it's government's job to get single mothers married. I can't think of many aspects of one's life that are more private than the decision to marry. I suppose that the good conservatives of Cape Girardeau can tell me that Bush's new role for government either is not intervention into private lives (good luck with that one), or is an intervention that is necessary and proper (good luck with that too).

The official count

I'VE SEEN two Speak Out comments recently stating that George Bush won the popular vote in the 2000 election. According to the federal government's national archives and records administration, this is incorrect. Gore received 50,996,582 votes. Bush got 50,456,062. Gore won the popular vote by over 500,000 votes out of about 100 million cast (about half a percent). Bush won Florida's vote by 537 votes out of about 6 million cast (a little less than 0.01 of a percent) and got all 25 of the state's electoral votes, winning the presidency.

Still can't afford it

A SPEAK Out caller asked a member of Congress to define the word "affordable" as in "affordable medical insurance" and "affordable prescription drugs." Though the congress member apparently didn't reply, my guess is that a member of Congress would, if pressed, define the word "affordable" by using dazzling politicalese to conceal the fact that the cost would be well out of reach for the inquiring constituent.

Insuring our parents

ON THE issue of health care for seniors, I am lucky to have a job with reasonably affordable insurance through my union. I propose that people like myself be able to add a grandparent or senior parent onto our insurance policies without being required to claim them as a dependent. We give all kinds of tax incentives to businesses for all kinds of reasons. To me, this would be a great reason.

What we deserve

I HAVE been involved in politics for over 30 years, and I wasn't surprised at how naive the Speak Out caller was who claimed that the public was "eternally hopeful" and prayed that the focus of politics would be on doing what's right. The public is responsible for the state of politics today. The majority do not even vote, complaining and making excuses for their own laziness. Generally speaking, people do not keep informed about issues, and they get their information through sound bites and spin. If you think it's possible for a candidate to win an election with a positive message, I have two words for you: Michael Dukakis. Remember him? He tried to rise above the fray and stay on an upbeat message. The opposing party literally creamed him. Whether or not we like to admit it, people respond to negative messages and love to wallow in the dirt. Jim Talent's people already have their mud ready to throw at U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan. Lies, distortions and half truths -- here we go. We get the government we deserve.

Information perils

I SERIOUSLY wish the Southeast Missourian would stop invoking the Internet as some sacrosanct repository of wisdom. The Internet is filled with stuff, mostly false and intentionally misleading information. Future historians will look upon the collapse of our civilization as being caused in large part by our confused receptivity to the fallacy that information is knowledge.

Wasting paper

PART OF the problem with paper waste at the university is because there are people on campus who won't move into an electronic world and still insist on having a paper copy in front of them, which is a shame. If you want the hard copy so badly, print the information off on your printer and keep the copy.