Speak Out A 08/25/03

No brainwashing

I have a theory about the continuing poor performance of many Missouri public school students on the MAP tests. I think it's an act of teen rebellion against a silly, politicized exam. With apologies to Pink Floyd, my view can best be expressed in the following:The Wall Map

We don't need no education

Stressing nothing but the MAP test.

No brainwashing inside the classroom.

Teachers do what you do best.

Otherwise, you're just another map on the wall.

Mailbox danger

THIS IS to people who live on county roads around Cape Girardeau. Some of you have a real bad habit of pulling up to your mailboxes on county roads and stopping. Sometimes you're even in the wrong lane going the wrong way. Some of us are coming over the hill -- going the speed limit, mind you -- and there you sit in our lane of traffic. You're going to cause an accident one of these days. Please, don't block a lane of traffic to check your mail. Pull off the road completely. Get out of your car. Go to your mailbox. And get your mail. If you don't want to do that, put your mailbox somewhere else or get a post office box.

Unbalanced meals

THIS IS a concerned grandparent. We've been reading the menus again this year in the newspaper. We feel the Cape Girardeau School District, especially in the elementary schools, isn't offering the kind of balance that children should have. I think someone should look into it.

A wider net

I SEE a caller to Speak Out quoting Paul's letter to the Corinthians for the proposition that homosexual offenders will not inherit the kingdom of God. That same passage in Corinthians says also that greedy people and revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God. I'm not sure what Paul means by that, but he seems to cast a very wide net. Perhaps we should be slow to revile any group and slow to say who will or will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven.

Ignorant masses

IGNORANCE IS bliss. I'm so happy to be a member of a thick-headed, ignorant masses wallowing in a sea of arrogant ignorance here in Cape Girardeau. Alan Journet and Bob Polack tried desperately to lead us out of the sea of ignorance. Back off, guys. Let us be happy by wallowing in our ignorance.

Guided by faith

AN ANGLICAN spokesman, Richard Hooker, opined: "Pray that none will be offended if I seek to make the Christian religion an inn where all I receive joyously, rather than a cottage where some few friends of the family are received." This kind of hospitality, which seeks to imitate Jesus' own table fellowship with all sorts of marginal and scorned people, is the genius of the Episcopal Church. Faithfulness to his example is the guide here, not Biblical literalism. Biblical literalism, per Leviticus 20, would not only condemn homosexuals, but put them to death along with adulterers.

Full investigation

THIS IS one Jackson resident who wants to see a full and complete investigation of this thing about our mayor. If we can't trust our city officials to be doing things ethically and honestly, then whom can we trust? If something's wrong, he needs to be punished for it. Don't sweep it under the rug. We want to know what happened.

Killer fog

THIS SUMMER, I've enjoyed getting up early and cycling our trail along Cape LaCroix Creek. I've seen turtles, small schools of fish and rare birds such as the kingfisher and blue heron. This morning, though, I saw a gruesome sight: a man in a tractor, driving along the creek bed, drenching its banks with chemicals. I guess a few folks would rather see dead grass than live grass and dead fish and birds rather than live ones. I was fogged by the drifting spray, and I can tell you it's a killer.

ALTHOUGH THEY are improving, Cape Girardeau's roadways still need help. Some streets are acceptably smooth, while the remaining majority are terrible. I recently read that the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge's concrete roadway is going to be three inches thick. This is the largest reason why our roads are suffering. In Germany, the Autobahn is around 27 inches thick.

Can't grasp all that

IN RESPONSE to the person who refers to Bush supporters as the ignorant masses, I have this to say: Keep up the good work. People like you and the other self-anointed intellectuals are the face of today's Democratic Party and are precisely the reason your party has steadily been losing ground since 1994. Being ignorant and all, I don't understand how superior-minded people expect to win people over to their side by calling them derogatory names. I guess I'm just too simple-minded to grasp intellectual thoughts.

Reaching our limits

GOD MAY decide the afterlife for homosexuals, but we have to decide what limits we want placed in society, how many gay shows we want on TV, do we want gay marriages in our society, etc. I think it's reasonable to question and set limits. Persons who have chosen gayness have pushed to the limits their rights. Now the heterosexuals are saying there's a point where we will say no.

Offensive names

THESE ATTACKS on the political correctness of changing the mascot at SEMO are ridiculous. If we had the SEMO Negroes or the SEMO Asians or the SEMO Caucasians, wouldn't that be offensive? Of course it would. They're reducing a race to a mascot.

Our moral fiber

EVERYBODY, INCLUDING myself, should do something about the honorable judge who's trying to preserve the Ten Commandments in one of our Southern states. The Ten Commandments represent our laws in this country and the moral fiber of every American and every human being in the world.

Read for yourself

I SPENT several hours with my New Testament open and a concordance and some other tools. I looked up every passage that I could find that had anything to do with sexuality, sexual relations and immorality. I looked only at the New Testament, because as Christians know that it's law after Jesus died on the cross that we are to follow. It negates Old Testament law. I read with an open mind because I didn't want to go by people's opinions in Speak Out concerning what was right and what was wrong with the Episcopal Church. I urge every Christian to do the same thing. It didn't take very long, and it was interesting reading. The Bible is very clear. You'll find it for yourself if you read what the Bible says and you don't try to twist it into something you believe or want it to say. Whatever you find, I think you need to address it whatever way you think you should. If you're an Episcopalian and you feel you need to take action, make your views known. If you're not Episcopalian, maybe you need to let your denomination know how you feel on this issue. It's definitely a hot button that's going to come up in other denominations as well.

A bad example

I WAS driving through Jackson and met a Jackson Fire Department pickup. There was a passenger in the back sitting up on the side of the pickup bed. Someone pulled out in front of them and the driver had to slam on his brakes. The girl in back lost her balance and almost fell out. Folks, this is dangerous. This is something we tell our kids not to do and then we see an employee of the city driving like that. City employees need to set a better example.

Forget the uniforms

IT'S NOT fair to wait until school starts to talk about uniforms. Kids' parents have already bought their school clothes. People have a hard time keeping up with bills and keeping food on the table for their children. Let's forget the uniforms.

They're too close

I HAVE a comment about the Paul Sander investigation. I think it's a conflict of interest to the have the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department investigating this. These individuals know each other all too well. There should be an outside investigative body looking into this.

School supplies

ANOTHER YEAR at Central High School, and we've got the same problem again this year that we had last year. In two of my daughter's classes, their teachers didn't give them the supplies list until Monday of the second week. But then they wanted the supplies by Wednesday or Thursday. Why wasn't the list given to us when school first started? Now my child's panicking. She thinks she's going to get a grade cut. Teachers, if you've got supplies that you need, give us a weekend. Be a little considerate.

Stirring up stuff

AS A resident of the Jackson area, I'm very angry about what they're doing to Mayor Paul Sander. It sounds like they're just stirring up stuff. An industrial park benefits the whole community. Jackson is one of the great cities that people want to move to when they come to the area. For the last six years, people have been filling Jackson.

Whining teachers

I'M ENJOYING the articles on the new teacher, Jason Bandermann, at Central Junior High School, but I've got to laugh at the comment that said the reason we've got so much burnout with new teachers is because they're overworked and have too many kids and not enough time to prepare. I've been teaching 19 years. The first four years I taught, I taught six hours out of seven, which is typical. I had not less than 25 students and up to 35 each hour, and I had five different classes to prepare for. I'm still here 19 years later. If teachers don't have time to prepare, they're not using their time wisely. I'm sorry, but all these teachers whining about how overworked and underpaid they are is ridiculous.

New sign for Jackson

THE WELCOME to Jackson sign should now read: "Home of beautiful homes, churches, schools and free sewer service."