SPEAKOUT

Worshipping perversion

I'M ASHAMED of our nation's sick and immoral attitude where entertainers, celebrities, rock stars and even politicians are praised and glorified and even worshipped. The more filthy and perverted they get, the more famous and popular they are, and the more sick public wants.

Let's go forward

I WANTED to say a thank you to Bill Coomer for probably the best letter on the Bill Clinton affair that I've read. I think he has the best judgment. It was sound reasoning, and I think we need to get on with life and let people have their own private lives back. I do agree with him. If all skeletons be known of all individuals in Congress, there would be nobody to lead the country at all. I thank Coomer for having the sense and forthrightness to write a letter that many people are probably thinking about but haven't done yet. I applaud him for his good sense. And I also agree. We need to get on. He's a human being. President Clinton is not infallible. Nobody is. I believe we need to go forward now. I don't even know what to say about our representatives who would vote to impeach Clinton on something that is private. If they looked into their own hearts, they could find fault with themselves.

Who is CNN calling?

I WOULD like to know who CNN polls, because I have been reading Speak Out for the past few weeks, and at least 80 percent of the people in this area want Clinton to step down. So who is CNN polling, just Republicans, just Democrats, just people in politics? They ought to go to the common people and ask them if he ought to step down.

That's a nightmare

A COUPLE of months ago, even before the Starr chamber went into high gear, Charles Osgood got it right on "CBS Saturday Morning" with this, "There's something in the air with which this country best beware, for there is danger in the dirt, and lots of people could be hurt. What we sow we some day reap, and last night as I lay down to sleep I dreamed an apparition of swarthy, the unshaved ghost of Joe McCarthy."

A good co-pilot

HEY, DON'T worry, Mr. Coomer, the plane is not going down. The way I see it, the pilot has lied to us about the manner in which he's flying the plane. We're now going to see whether he's still capable of flying that plane. If he's not, then we have a very able co-pilot in Al Gore, who will take over, and the plane will not go down.

Try another argument

THIS IS to the person who claims the party of the right has become the party of hate. First of all, Henry Hyde did not commit perjury. Henry Hyde did not obstruct justice. Neither did Dan Burton. So until you can find a Republican who has broken the law on those two counts, don't even bother trying to make an argument.

Who's non-partisan?

WHY IS it partisan politics when the Republicans don't join and vote with the Democrats? Are they just as partisan when they don't vote along with the Republicans? Why don't the Republicans respond correctly to those accusations? Also, I've got another little idea for them. The Republicans should borrow a line from Rev. David Riehn, the well-known and successful minister with cerebral palsy. People ask him, "Brother Dave, wouldn't you like to be normal?" He says "What's normal? You're normal?" Then he gives them a laugh. When the Democrats throw up the party line about the non-partisan politics to the Republicans, the Republicans should say, "What's non-partisan? You're non-partisan?" and then give them a big horse laugh.

He made his own mess

I'M A Republican lady from Perryville. I sure enjoy the Southeast Missourian newspaper and especially reading Speak Out. I just wanted to say President Clinton should be impeached. I just heard his wife Hillary say it was the Republicans' fault that caused all of her husband's mess in the White House. Well, we didn't make him have his marital flings and tell all of his lies.

Taking sides on sin

FOR SEVERAL months I thought that there might be some hope that Gary Rust and Peter Kinder were against adultery and sin. But then along comes Henry Hyde, Dan Burton and Helen Chenoweth, and they don't say anything about those people. So now I've figured it out that all that Gary and Peter are against is Democratic sin. If you can't be against all sin, you ought at least have enough guts to stand up and say, "We are right-wing Republicans, and we like our people no matter what a bunch of whore chasers they are, and we are on their side no matter what."

The goat party

EVERY TIME these Democratic congressmen are asked if President Clinton lied and broke the law, they say yes -- but. I've heard so many buts they need change their party emblem from a donkey to goat.

Explain sonic booms

I'M CALLING to find out if other Cape Girardeans have been noticing the past few weeks all these sonic booms that we're hearing. I recently called the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, and the people there have no idea what it is. They agree that it is a sonic boom, but they have no idea what it is. Anybody know what's going on? If so, call us and let us know.

Explain combat duty

I ATTENDED the debate between U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Judge Tony Heckemeyer, and I certainly wish a reporter from the Southeast Missourian would get clarification from Judge Heckemeyer. In the debate, Judge Heckemeyer made the statement that he was a combat veteran. I would like to know how Judge Heckemeyer can be a combat veteran when he only spent six months in Missouri National Guard. Credibility is very important, and we need a public explanation from Judge Heckemeyer why he would make a statement that he was a combat veteran. This is a slap in the face to all combat veterans of the 8th District, and he owes all of us an apology.

REPLY:

Here's real life

I'D JUST like to say that I have multiple sclerosis, and I've survived on no assistance whatsoever. The last couple months we fell behind and had some problems. I'd like to know how I explain to my children that the same government can spend millions of dollars investigating our president's sex life but can't afford a family that's going to become homeless on Oct. 1. Or what about people who have deadbeat fathers out there and have been running for nine years and pay no child support? I think we need to leave President Clinton alone and take care of our own. If I saw pictures of missing kids on the TV half as much as I see Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, we might have some of those kids home.

A bit of the bard

TO PARAPHRASE Shakespeare. "The fault, Mr. President, is not in Starr but in yourself."

No HMO coverage

THANK YOU, Speak Out, for listening to us. I had to be out of town Monday and could not attend the meeting at the Osage Community Centre on the merging of the two hospitals. I'd just like to express my opinion. My daughter who is married and who is 30 years old has HMO insurance coverage. She had to have several tests, including MRIs and stuff. So she had one done at St. Francis and one at Southeast. Her husband pays $215 a month for the HMO coverage. It would not cover the test. Neither hospital would accept the HMO coverage my daughter has. This is very disturbing. These hospitals are a monopoly. There's just no sense in them not accepting the HMO. Now she's got over $3,000 in bills. If a St. Louis hospital would take over one of the hospitals down here, then the HMO would be covered. So please, don't let them merge for problems like this. We do need some St. Louis coverage down here for doctors and hospitals.

Against negative ads

I'M SICK and tired of negative political campaigning. It's gone too far. I'm letting every politician know that I'm making a list of every negative ad I see by politicians who think it's more important to bash their opponent than to tell us their ideas and their plans. Come November, whether they're Republican, Democrat, whoever, I'll vote for their opponent.

Stop, think, analyze

AMERICANS, LISTEN to yourselves. You've worked yourselves up into a frenzy of intolerance. It's almost as though a civil war could break out again with the "for" on one side and the "against" on another. To say calm down seems ludicrous, and to say forget it is impossible with the media bombardment. But everyone needs to stop and think and truly analyze who really is to blame for America's present situation. Bill Coomer's letter to the editor is the most rational analysis I've read or heard. Three cheers for him. Not all Democrats are evil, and not all Republicans are saints and vice versa. This bitter hostility will do nothing but damage our country. And just to plant a thought, the people in America who do not vote just might be the blame.

New GOP leaders?

I WAS wondering how the old-guard Republicans are adjusting to having Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson take over control of the Grand Old Party and what do they see down the road?

Picking your polls

THE REPUBLICANS used to brag about the polls when they were in their favor. Now that the polls are holding up for President Clinton and the Democrats, the Republicans are downplaying the polls and say they aren't accurate. You can't fool the majority of the people all the time.

Make no deals

CLINTON'S HIGHEST perjury of all is that he has lied and violated his oath of office he took in January 1996 when he swore to uphold ideals of the office of the presidency. He has made a mockery of our highest office of the land. Since he has lied about his oath of office and twice under oath since and to the American directly, he should be impeached and removed as soon as possible. No deals.

No morals in GOP

REPUBLICANS DON'T have any morals. Republicans in Congress are being bought and paid for by Big Tobacco. Republicans don't care how much suffering and pain tobacco causes our loved ones. They don't care about family leave to be able to take care of loved ones when they're sick. They don't care if working people make enough to feed their children and afford housing. They don't care about working conditions in the workplace. They don't care if everybody will be able to get an education in the future. Their tax breaks always favor the rich and business first. And I remember Reagan being paid $2 million fromJapan, and nothing was ever said about it. To me that was a $2 million payoff.

He deserves nothing

I THINK President Clinton should be impeached. If we let him resign, we have to give him a pension for the rest of his life and many other benefits. If he is impeached, he gets nothing, and that's what he deserves.

A recap of the Bible

I'M CALLING in response to all those Bible experts who are making a big deal out the wording in my previous call. I am the one who said "spare the rod and spoil the child." It wasn't meant as a verbatim quote from the Bible. I thought everyone, even the learned Mr. Hilty, would understand that. If you spare the rod, you will spoil the child. That was my recap of the Bible teaching. With all the follow-up, I'm sure everyone knows now what I was saying.

Right on target

I JUST read Bill Coomer's letter to the editor, "The day America died," and he's right on target. I couldn't have said it better myself. Hang in there, Bill.

None of our business

TO THE person who said if they lied to their boss the way Clinton did us, because we're his boss, they'd be fired. I don't know about this person, but it must not be a union establishment where you work, because that did away with the employers telling you what to do years ago. You're employer is not your mother or father, not your lord and master. It's your employer. I can only hope that your boss didn't ask you about your private sexual life. You probably wouldn't have lied to him. You probably would have told him it's none of his business. But then again, if it's not union, he'd fire you. This is a different time and age. Clinton does not owe us, his boss, the ones who hired him, any explanation about his sex life. It's none of our business about his sex life. That's his God, his wife and the person he's involved with, it's between them, not us. He's doing a good job, that's all I want of him.

Speak out by voting

I WAS so glad to see that this ad for a $2 bumper sticker was not in the Southeast Missourian Friday. The only way for anyone to profit in our United States is to go the polls and vote.

Let them spend it

THIS IS in regards to Dr. Martin's letter. Dr. Martin, let me say to you that I don't really care about the casinos. That is not my cup of tea either. But you made the statement that gamblers were spending their children's inheritance and their savings. They don't need to leave it for their children. They don't need to leave it for their grandchildren. They just need to enjoy it whatever way they see fit. And whatever we have that the doctors don't get, we're going to enjoy it.

Reminder about truth

I'D LIKE to comment on the Sept. 25 letter to the editor by Ron Farrow about truth. I think that is a great letter. I think it gives everybody, regardless of their opinions about Clinton, a lot of thought. I think it should be posted on everybody's refrigerator or on the mirror in the bathroom, someplace where they can read this every day, because it seems people have lost respect for truth and morality.

Let's drop this

CLINTON lies, he cheats and he balances the budget. He had extra-marital sex. So what? That issue is for him and his family to resolve, not the U.S. or Starr. He did something wrong. He hurt his wife. That's it. I don't really care what Clinton does on the bed or on his desk, and neither should anybody else. Let's finally get this dropped. To the man who would have let his son get the belt, you are more immoral, unethical and disgraceful to America than Clinton ever could be. If you're willing to take the belt to anyone, especially a child, you need help. That's child abuse.

Lesson from the Bible

I JUST re-read the book of Judges in the Old Testament. It's a story over a 400-year period of how God sent 12 judges to the people of Israel. When these good judges from God came, the people of Israel prospered, they regained their land, they had contentment and they worshipped God. In between when Israel was prosperous, sometimes the people would pick immoral leaders, and they would follow these bad people. When they followed the immoral leaders, the neighbors like the Philistines would come and defeat them in battle. The Philistines would take Israel into captivity and make them slaves. Then after a period of years, sometimes short, sometimes long, God would send a new judge. The people of Israel would repent of their ways and follow the new judge, and things would get better. They would regain their strength, and God would lead them our of captivity. What does this have to do with us? Today we have an immoral leader. We must do everything we can not to follow our immoral leader. When we get the opportunity, when a good leader comes along, a leader who fears God, who believes in religion, who believes in God, who has morality and character, we should do everything we can to empower our new leader from God.

Dim on law, religion

IT SEEMS that 90 percent of the people who call Speak Out are Christians as well as lawyers and obviously the best of both. Speak Out callers fully understand that impeachment is only a trial by the Senate and not a removal from the office. They also know that what Clinton did was illegal. This is very impressive due to the fact that real lawyers don't know. And of course, let's not forget Linda Tripp. She's a hero. Just today I told my nephews it's OK to be immoral -- if it pays. If Speak Out callers are as dim in areas of religion as they are in law, may their God have mercy on their souls.