Speak Out A 07/14/02

Partisan hogwash

HOGWASH TO the Democrats who proclaim President Bush gave the green light to Big Business to report false earnings, sell stock illegally and defraud the public as if the Democrats don't take any campaign money or favors from big corporations. Corrupt people have always been around. The Democrats begin their smear campaign before every election. They have no policy or ideas of their own, just a blame game and rumors that the Republicans are taking away our Social Security, starving children and throwing old folks in the street. Why not counter with the truth?

Using our money

IF OUR lawmakers can raid park and historic funds to put stained glass in the Capitol in Jefferson City and build a go-cart trail at a St. Louis golf course, why should we believe they won't raid the highway fund to do something else for St. Louis? I think it's a bunch of rip-offs.

Starts in government

I APPRECIATE President Bush's comments and speeches, but doesn't he realize that corruption has always started in government. That is something we should all think about too.

Cost overruns

I READ the editorial about the proposed cost of the new courthouse in Cape Girardeau. If the editorial board thinks the estimated cost is going to be the final cost, this will probably go down in history as the first federal project that has ever finished at its estimated cost.

Incomplete study

I'D LIKE to comment on all the news about the hormone-replacement therapy for women after menopause. This study may be very accurate, but there's no way to know if it applies to the population, because no one can follow the women who died from cancer beyond their death to see if they would have died anyway -- or even sooner -- if they had not gotten hormone-replacement therapy. Hormone-replacement therapy is guaranteed to replace the hormones they were producing when of childbearing age.

Driving and whining

IF I have to listen to any more people talk about driving in either Cape Girardeau or Jackson, I think I'm going to absolutely vomit somewhere. It's absolutely absurd. What else do these people have to do in life than call Speak Out and complain about the traffic? If they went to any major city, they wouldn't last a day. If you don't like the traffic, get on a bike, scooter or skateboard or walk.

Dogs are nuisance

DOES JACKSON have an ordinance against barking dogs? Cape does nothing about them and I have to move somewhere that I can get some sleep. The dogs on Robin Hood Circle bark all night long, and no one cares.

Doesn't seem fair

IS THIS correct? If a man stands in his yard and screams all night so his neighbors can't sleep, he will be charged with disturbing the peace. But if his dog barks all night, keeping his neighbors awake, nothing can be done about it. I don't understand.

Loud celebration

BALONEY ON those who bad-mouth loud fireworks. In this time of need for an outpouring of nationalism, we should ditch Roman candles and sparklers and bring back super loud M-180s and cherry bombs and the like. It's time to say farewell to the feminization of the Fourth of July.

Picking on Christians

THEREIS no shortage of madmen with the means and the dedication to slaughter Americans. The Sept. 11 terrorists weren't advocates of Aryan supremacy. Neither were those who killed 241 Marines in Beirut, bombed Pan Am 103, blew up two U.S. embassies in Africa or killed Americans and destroyed property at several other places. They were all Muslims. But the only believers that the politicians seem ready to take on are the Christians, not the Muslims.

Trivializing patriotism

FAILING TO clean up fireworks may be inappropriate and irresponsible, but to write that it is unpatriotic to do so trivializes the word unpatriotic.