SPEAKOUT

Caution around school buses

I'D LIKE to address my comment to the lady who was driving the blue pickup truck Friday morning in Jackson and almost hit my 8-year-old child as he was trying to board his school bus. I'd like to tell her that the bright red sign on the side of the bus that says stop means stop. It doesn't mean try to proceed through the stop sign and get past the bus before the people load. My son was crossing the road. If the driver can't read, I know she won't be able to read Speak Out, because obviously she couldn't read that stop sign. But she needs to slow down. This is a residential neighborhood. If motorists can't slow down in the neighborhood, they need to move to a faster paced city where there's not as much congestion and little children playing. Be careful of the children. They have to go to school. They have to get on the buses.

When men were voters

I HAVE been hearing a political advertisement on radio about how elections have got better over the years. It tells about years ago when only white men with property could vote and how things have changed to include women and minorities. Well, let's see how things how have changed. If only white men with property could vote nowadays, Bill Clinton wouldn't have been elected either time. You wouldn't have all this mess in the White House. The Oral Office would still be the Oval Office, and a good cigar's primary use would still be for smoking. The polls that show the majority of the American people still support Clinton would also suggest that maybe America is going to hell in a handbasket. Isn't change wonderful? Need I say more?

She's not stupid

LET'S GET one thing straight. If there is anything that Mrs. Clinton isn't, it's stupid.

Where the money goes

I WOULD like to make a comment about how our politicians are always talking about saving our Social Security and Medicare, but you never hear that ever talks about reimbursement to those who receive a smaller Social Security check because of an accounting glitch that the government made. They say they don't have the money, but they sure have plenty to support the rest of the world. I think all our citizens should be very concerned about where their taxes are going.

Worthless paper

I'D BE willing to bet that so-called peace Mideast treaty is not worth the paper it's written on.

Ad changed one mind

I HAD every intention to vote for Jay Nixon until I saw this latest mud slinging ad he put on TV about Christopher Bond. Anybody who would stoop this low would do anything to get elected. Showing Bond and his wife on an airplane putting food in their mouth -- how low can a candidate get? And I was reading in Speak Out where someone called in and said Tony Heckemeyer has a good plan for Social Security. He plans on putting it in a private fund by itself. Whoever this caller was thinks he has a better plan than Jo Ann Emerson. Let me tell this caller something. Social Security is in a separate fund by itself, and the politicians have taken it out to make the debt look smaller. Now everyone's running on the promise that they're going to save Social Security. If they had kept their cotton pickin' fingers off it to start with, it wouldn't be in trouble now the way it is. And if they would get out here and look for some of this fraud in Medicare, Medicare would be in good shape. Don't tell me that these politicians don't know about this fraud that's going on in Medicare. So I will vote for Kit Bond gladly over Jay Nixon.

Virtual participation

A SOUTHEAST Missourian editorial recently expressed concern because so few citizens attended a variety of public meetings concerning issues of local importance. However, in my view there is no longer any need to actually be at a meeting to express your view or get involved. Forums like Internet chat groups and Speak Out have made the need to be physically present at such meetings out of date. I consider those of us who express our view via Speak Out or Internet discussion groups to be virtual attendees. We play just as big a role as those who go to the meetings. An advantage is that we can participate while staying at home, lying around in our PJs, sipping soda, eating microwave popcorn and watching MTV.

Irresponsible grandparents

PRAISE THE caller who commented about "Deadbeat grandparents." My friends and I were seated around dining room table for an evening of conversation. The main topic of our discussion was the comment on grandparent visitation. All of us present were grandparents. As grandparents, we feel that the caller hit on some excellent points. What kind of grandparent has the right to claim he has any family morals when he is selfish enough to take his own child into court, especially under false pretenses? A happily married and stable family has the right to raise its own children. What the family does not need is a controlling grandparent who drags them into court whenever he does not get their way. Such grandparents are taking advantage of small children in order to continue to control their own children's lives. People need to be aware of selfish, abusive and controlling grandparents and the malicious acts that they are capable of. Trials are in no possible way in the best interest of any child. Many states have and are considering this law unconstitutional. Grandparents who are stupid enough to interfere with a stable family and take a child to court would not be welcome in my home. One certain end product of this that is guaranteed is a grandchild's hatred for the grandparents who cause all this pain and suffering for their family.

Enforce the ordinances

IT SOUNDS as if our City Council is planning on passing another ordinance to only be ignored. Why pass an ordinance on trees when the council has just passed one on roaming cats, abandoned automobiles, high weeds and yard sale signs on utility poles? None of them is enforced. So I think the council is wasting its time passing city ordinances if it does not intend to enforce them. And talking about the south end of Cape, something needs to be done with the north end of Cape as far as cleaning it up. So much for the community garden on the 1100 block of North Main Street. I invite anyone to drive by and take a look at this community garden now. It's nothing but weeds, and I'm concerned that this is way most of these lots will be where these houses were torn down due to flooding. It makes no sense to waste time passing city ordinances when you don't intend to enforce them. Something needs to be done to enforce the ordinances that they already have on the books.

Democratic programs

WITH THE election just days away, I'd like to remind my friends of a few of the programs that the Democrats have enacted for the good of most people. If you use or receive Social Security, VA benefits, Medicare, minimum wage, family leave or benefit from the Americans With Disabilities Act which requires handicap ramps and entrances to public buildings, thank your Democratic representative or senator, for they are the ones who enacted them into law. A lot of people I have talked to enjoy these benefits but have no idea the Democrats are responsible for passing them. I would also like to remind my friends that a lot of Republican politicians have said they would like to see some of these programs wither on the vine.

Dangerous postings

I'D LIKE to make a comment, not about the news today but the news that might be if a lineman is injured when climbing one of the telephone or light poles over in Alexander County. It appears some of the candidates are stapling and nailing their political signs on those light poles. My grandfather was a retired lineman, and he fussed and cussed every time he saw that happen, because those linemen wear cleats and can be killed if they're traveling that line and have any kind of line disturbance. Also, the same candidates are stapling and nailing onto the faces of mailboxes. It looks pretty shabby, and it looks to me like the highway department should be out ripping those signs off in the interest of safety and taking care of the public property and quit mowing around some of the political signs that are up on the hills and represent the people of the state government.