SPEAKOUT

Tax the hot air first

RADICAL RAY Umbdenstock recently raised the question as to whether or not the air will be the next thing to be taxed. Possibly. Personally, I think a good source of revenue for the government would be the blowing hot air emanating from Umbdenstock letters.

Following a dog to get a deer

MY ANALOGY of the Clinton-Lewinsky situation: One time I went hunting and noticed a dog. I nearly shot it thinking it was a deer. But the dog led me to a deer, which I shot. That's exactly how Kenneth Starr is going. He's following a dog to get a deer, and he would have never found the deer without the dog, which was meaningless. Why should they have to do that? It's wasting a lot of money.

Government schemes are always the same

WHY ARE people surprised at SEMO University's plans for a River Campus and the proposed new tax to pay for it? When speaking about the university establishment, we are generally talking about government employees. How many in government agencies, state or federal, are there who operate with any degree of efficiency and, most importantly, common sense? When a new university president or other official is hired, the university regents have praised the person for his past accomplishments at his last job. And then when they begin work here, they again have to prove their worth by initiating new programs and new building projects. Does this sound like other government agencies? And where does this money come from for the next project or program? The taxpayers, of course. Maybe better management by the university of the money it has should be the answer. Let any of these administrators go out in the real business world with these wilds schemes and see if they can survive.