Speak Out A 06/09/03

Welfare, not refund

IF YOU made less than $26,000 and have a child, you shouldn't have paid any income taxes. How can you get a refund of taxes not paid? That's not a refund. It's welfare, and it shouldn't be part of this tax bill.

Time for action

IF U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson is concerned about the horrific drug prices, she is a rare Republican indeed. Good for her. Now we need more than rhetoric and concern. We need action.

Missing the logic

I SOMETIMES wonder where Gov. Bob Holden gets his ideas. He says let the people decide about paying more taxes. Any normal, rational person can tell you he is not going to vote on a tax increase. I wonder if the governor has the rationale to even be a public servant. It makes me wonder even more so when he still wants nearly $750 million dollars more for the state budget. Congress is giving us $400 million. That's $350 more than we apparently need. Where's the logic in that?

Help ordinary people

IT IS not crazy to expect state Sen. Peter Kinder to work to make health care more available to his constituency. It is not crazy to expect him to support our community's educational system (from kindergarten to SEMO). But if he wants to take credit for favoring doctors over sick people, fat cats over wage earners and ignorance over education, then this certainly tells us what kind of a person he really is. What is crazy is anyone who can't afford medicine or works for a paycheck or wants a decent education for his children who actually votes for this guy. If Kinder doesn't want to help ordinary people, please go home.

Where the buck stops

HOW MANY jobs do these bad corporation provide in Missouri? How much do the bad corporations pay in sales and use taxes, property taxes, real estate taxes and franchise taxes? Maybe if Gov. Bob Holden would have managed the affairs of Missouri better he wouldn't have to vilify anyone or group. The buck stops with the governor.

Living in poverty

I READ your article on living in poverty. I was very upset. My next door neighbor has HUD pay for her rent. Welfare pays for her spending money. And food stamps pays for her food. She also gets huge tax credits for her 4 kids. This women has it made. Do not tell me about poverty. This is absurd.

Hands are tied

IT'S SAD, but in defense of the public school teacher reduced to monitoring but not disciplining inappropriate student behavior in study halls, that's all she can do. Federal and state laws and bureaucratic red tape have rendered virtually any attempts at on-the-spot discipline a violation of student rights and legal due process.

Diplomatic efforts

IF DIPLOMATIC options have no deterrent effect on terrorists, why did a Speak Out caller give President Bush so much credit? Bush has been in the terrorist-riddled Middle East trying to bring about a peace agreement via diplomacy.

Not enough income

ON SIGNING the $350 billion tax relief bill, President Bush said, "We're helping families with children who will receive immediate relief." Unfortunately, this isn't true for the working poor who were excluded from eligibility for the earned-income credit. The folks who need it the most are being prevented from claiming it because they don't earn enough money.

Get out of the way

HEAVY TRUCKS are one of our great nation's ways of moving various products from and to the people. Slow motorists should move out of the way and stop trying to slow down progress.

The way things are

A JUNKYARD has cars. A farm has cows. Thus is the nature of life.

But you didn't pay

HOW CAN someone gripe about not getting back the child-tax credit refund because they only made $26,100 last year? You didn't pay any taxes to start with. Why should you be entitled to a refund of something you didn't pay?

Rude customers

I WORK with the public on a daily basis. I love my job. But lately my co-workers and I have experienced some awfully rude and hateful people. Some are demanding the impossible, and some are just plain mean. If you need our assistance so badly, please be considerate. It makes the workday go faster when people are in good spirits. Try it. It's contagious. A simple "Thank you, I appreciate it and have a good day" is all it takes. Don't spoil our sunshine just because your day is rotten.

Limited trust

I TRUST the Cape Girardeau City Council. But if council members sell out the school district and pass the TIF subsidy for Prestwick Plantations I will personally circulate a recall petition designed to throw the rascals out.

Representative approval

YOUR RECENT editorial bemoaning the effects of unfunded federal mandates leaves out one important fact. The people, through our representatives in Washington, approved these mandates in the first place.

Plenty of benefits

AS A college professor and the child of a college professor, I have lived in seven different college towns over my lifetime. Only in Cape Girardeau have I experienced such a total failure to understand and appreciate the educational, cultural and economic benefits derived from the presence of a college or university. Consider the River Campus controversy. One would expect that our community would be thrilled to have such a cultural asset at such an economical price and with so much private financing. But I'm an optimist. Perhaps our community really does appreciate efforts to enhance our community. Perhaps it's just a few loud and angry old men who are polluting the public's attitude.

Control the children

HOW DARE anyone suggest that I sit somewhere else when children are being disruptive during commencement? Parents, they are your children. You brought them. You should take care of them. Maybe your children need to hear "no" from you and understand what the word means.

U.S. system is better

WHILE IT'S true that all Canadians have health-care coverage and pay less in GDP, they have fewer services. Major U.S. drug companies develop the drugs that prolong Canadian lives. Without money for R&D, these miracles of modern science would not be available. Our health-care infrastructure is so much more well developed that Canadians end up coming down here for care. It sounds like our system is actually better.

Doesn't smell right

ALL SCHOOL districts are begging for more money. Now some are choosing to pay kids $100 or more and give them prizes just to go to school. I smell a big dirty rat.

SOS ASAP, please

SOMEONE NEEDS to step in now. I'm not a counselor, but it's very apparent that Southeast Missourian editor and columnist Joe Sullivan is in need of crisis intervention assistance. His self-esteem continues to plummet. After throwing in the towel on his hopes for construction of a downtown golf course, he recently wrote a column claiming he was a nobody. Although I think it's too late to assume that a quick decision by the city council to construct a downtown golf course would pull him out of it, I would encourage the council to at least call a special session and pass the necessary ordinances so as to get going on this project. It might pull him out of it. SOS! Save Our Sullivan!