SPEAKOUT

Wake-up call

THE NEWS media such as ABC, NBC and CBS all package liberalism as caring, helping and the future. But what is it? It's anything goes, no morals, no values, no responsibility, government control on everything and a godless society. It has taken over one political party, and it soon will take over the morals of our country with the atheist and political liberals of the ACLU. We need a wake-up all.

Now you understand

A SPEAK Out caller recently described a Speak Out comment I made alleging a left-wing takeover at the Southeast Missourian as "absurd." In response to that, I can only say that finally, after all these years, someone understands me.

Leave us alone

IS IT possible to keep the NAACP happy? They just keep making demands. The flag was taken down from the capitol building in South Carolina. That's enough. Stop messing with our history. And stop trying to tell people that the War Between the States was fought over slavery. It was not. Read your history. You'll see.

Right to privacy

WHEN I think of the right to free speech being lost, I don't think of the crappy music and movie industry these days. But during the 1950s there was a censor board that made our society a more decent place for adults to live and for the children they were raising. I think of the rights to individual free speech lost. One of the great things about living in Southeast Missouri is the right to anonymity. You may call Speak Out, and you don't have to give your name if you choose not to. You can just call in and your voice matters. If you choose, you can write a letter. But when I think of the loss of individual privacy, I think of how just a few years ago you could dial a telephone and have privacy for polls you were voting on. Now if you want to give an opinion, they tack it to a computer system. You really don't have a voice unless you have a home computer. Anyone knows that home computers allow your identity to be tracked. They can track child molesters' identities. There is no privacy on the Internet. One day I called Paducah, Ky., to give an opinion on a show, and they really felt that they had to have my name and that I didn't count if I chose to be anonymous. They said they needed my name for tracking purposes. What's my right to privacy? That's what Americans have lost. Thank goodness for Speak Out and the Southeast Missourian.

Simple advice

CONCERNING THE Speak Out comment "Clean up your act in Cape": Sweep your own porch. In other words, mind your own business and quit watching your neighbors. It's as simple as that.

Fireworks in Cape

REGARDING THE Fourth of July celebration in Cape Girardeau: It was always wonderful to watch the fireworks. That's what I had always imagined the Fourth of July being for my children, just like it was for me. However, now we cannot have a Fourth of July celebration in Cape that is completed by fireworks. We have to drive to another town. We would always have our celebration at our own home, and then go to the public Fourth of July celebration. It did not need to be a big community picnic. There was too much money invested in what people did not want or need. That took away from what the people did want, which was the fireworks.

Waiting too long

I DON'T want to buy a license for two years. If it will cost me the same as getting my car inspected and my license every year, given the choice I'd stay with buying my license once a year. They say the reason for this is to take care of lines at the license bureaus. These people who buy their license for two years will be the same way as they were when they were buying them for one year. They'll wait till the last minute to get their license. That's what causes the long lines at the bureau.