SPEAKOUT

We should all learn to speak English

I JUST want to make a comment about English being the official language. I'd like to know when we ever got away from speaking English. Why should we even vote on something that's always been natural for hundreds of years? It just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I've been asleep or something happened, I don't know. But to me, we've spoken English for so long, why should we even think about changing that now? English is our language. That's what we grew up with, that's what it is, that's what we are. Any foreigners come into this country should learn to speak English. We shouldn't have to learn their language. If we go to their country, we have learn their language, but they're coming to our country so they should learn English in my opinion. I guess I'm totally confused.

Columnist insults Founding Fathers

WALTER WILLIAMS recently wrote a column about the Founding Fathers. Williams' goal was to try to explain what he thought to be the true beliefs of the Founding Fathers. I am not surprised to discover that Williams came to the conclusion that the Founding Fathers had a political philosophy similar to his. This is the ultimate insult to the Founding Fathers. In my view, the Founding Fathers may have been a lot of things, but they were not ideological, crazed libertarians. If they were, God help us all.

Global warming: Where's the snow?

SO HERE it is late January. We haven't had a single snowfall this year. Does Peter Kinder still expect us to believe that global warming is just a right-wing scare tactic?

Lots of credit for good economy

SURE THE economy is really good. Let's give everyone credit who helped to get it there, not only Clinton. Congress passed bills to cut welfare, to balance the budget and several other things that were not even thought of by the Democrats 10 years ago. We have a stock market that is going wild because of the IRAs and the 401(k)s. Give people money, and they have confidence. Another point, we are not spending $360 billion a year on defense. That is a billion dollars a day that goes back into the economy. We can thank Reagan for this because of a cutback in the military and the demise of the Iron Curtain and a very less powerful Russia. By the way, to answer some Speak Out callers, Reagan never made all the debt. We had 40 years of a very big spending by Democrats in Congress, and they could stop Reagan's veto. Now Congress wants to change the education system and send it back to the people and away from Washington bureaucrats. They also want to cut taxes and give it back to the people.

Ignore advice about young smokers

PERHAPS THE person who made the statement that children should have the right to make their own decisions about smoking should visit the emergency room where those children, if they make that decision, will be in 20 or 30 years. She should observe closely how many health-related problems there are associated with the act of smoking. If the caller was over the age of 14, she seems to be making very uninformed statements, and it would be better if her advice were ignored.

Spending too much on investigations

I THINK all of this investigating of our president and his family is ridiculous. Mr. Starr is spending the taxpayers' money left and right and laughing all the way to his bank at us for being so gullible. It's time to call a halt to all of this. Who's next? The pope? What about Kennedy when the girls were at the White House? Nobody investigated him.

Try the Bill Clinton defense

I WOULD like to make a comment to all the people thinking about getting ready to commit crimes. Just do the Bill Clinton hustle. If you're caught, deny everything. And when they ask you who was involved, just say you can't remember. That's how the Bill Clinton legal defense team works.

Clinton should let Gore take over

I BELIEVE that before he is impeached for obstruction of justice, President Clinton should resign and let Vice President Gore take over the office of president.

A poem in response to Stapleton

I READ columnist Jack Stapleton's poem in the Southeast Missourian the other day. I considered a work of inspired genius. In fact, I think it was on a par with that of the mad poetic genius Ezra Pound. Though the work was truly great, I am a tad bit concerned about Jack. As a result, I would like to offer a brief Speak Out poem expressing my feelings:

I read the poem by Jack.

It was a work of art.

For genius it did not lack,

But I think he needs St. John's Wort.

No big deal about Clinton

WHAT'S THE big deal with Bill Clinton and the women? FDR and Eisenhower had mistresses. It's not big deal.

When rules change, let us withdraw

I HAVE a suggestion for our representatives. I suggest that they revise the truth-in-banking law. My suggestion is that anytime a bank changes a rule, the person who has money in that bank be allowed to take it out without penalty and without sacrificing any of the interest. This would eliminate that teeny, tiny ant-size print that they change the rules with. And also, it would be a lot more fair for those of us who put our money in there expecting the rules not to change. It isn't fair for one side to make the rules and change them whenever they want when the other side isn't allowed to get out when the rules change. Thank you, representatives, for listening to me.

If charges are true, a big setback

PRESIDENT CLINTON, if you're innocent of the charges, I hope you're cleared and your name is brought back. But if you're guilty, I think the people can maybe excuse your alleged conduct as governor of Arkansas since we all make mistakes. If this is true, your present conduct has set the office of the presidency back a long way. The office is very, very dear to the American people, regardless of what party. And all I've got to say, if it's true, regardless of what party you are, it will make that Republican victory in 1994 seem like a baby to what's coming.

TV ministers should stay out of politics

I CANNOT stand these TV ministers who try to control the whole world. They should pay taxes like everyone else. They should stay out of politics. Please support your local churches.

A tactic to deal with Saddam

I HAVE the solution about what we should do about Saddam Hussein. We should tell him every day we're going to blow up another one of his presidential palaces until he let's us inspect them. I think pretty soon he'll let us see whatever's left.

Short terms for child molesting

IN THURSDAY'S edition of the Southeast Missourian there was an article about the child molester who chose castration while facing a possible 100-year prison term. It seems that child molesters in Cape County only get a slap on the wrist, usually getting terms of a few months if any. Why is this?

If you do the crime, do the time

I'M COMMENTING on the letter from the young man in jail who wrote to the editor. It seems as though he is complaining about conditions in the jail itself, but I think there is an underlying message that he is trying to articulate. I think it is a gross injustice that the judge fines people for criminal activities. If you are rich enough or if you are the child of a rich parent or if you have enough money from running drugs to pay your fine, you're out of there. If not, you stay there or you go on a work-release program. I think that if you do the crime, you do the time, everyone equally without any amount of money being discussed such as fines.