SPEAKOUT

What's he trading for?

I WOULD like to make a comment about what's going with Bill Clinton. He's taking all this money in. One night recently he raised $50 million. What is the money being traded for? No one gives that money without being traded. Are we selling some of our high-tech equipment to foreign countries like we did with the camcorder? The United States developed it, and then we gave it to the Chinese and they shrink it down and it comes back much smaller. Is this for arms or what? Something has to be going on, and it's a matter of national security.

Health care still an issue

I HAVE written several letters to Jo Ann Emerson and called several times wanting to know what she plans to do about future national health care. I know her husband was most vehemently opposed to it because most of the Democrats are for it. But if they'll study it, the United States is the only country where people on low wages are denied health care, and the insurance companies decide whether we live or die at times. That is a disgrace. I think that the United States is going to be like England. England had conservatives running out their ears. They said too much government too. but I understand the Conservative party is trailing in the polls. And that's the same thing that's going to happen here. When people get hungry, when they need health care, they're going to say the same thing.

High rises for parking

THERE SEEMS to be flooding all over the country. The best way the United States could help that -- it wouldn't stop it -- but instead of having parking lots, they should have high rises. Any parking lot over 25 cars should be a high rise. The water's got to go somewhere, and the best place is into the ground.

Cartoon are distasteful

THE CARTOONS on the Opinion page are distasteful. It tells you it is a very biased paper, but what can we expect out of the Republicans? What does it teach our children? I guess when they think it makes fun to put down are political leaders who many of us are proud of.

Young millionaires

I READ Mr. Litke's column and found it very interesting regarding how young is too young for athletes to turn professional. I think it's amazing that there's any debate at all that an 18-year-old should or shouldn't be a millionaire. I think I'd rather have my son be a 18-year-old millionaire than go to Vietnam like I did and get shot.

Another requirement?

I DIDN'T know that jumping from an airplane was a requirement for the presidency. How did how founding fathers miss that?

Prefer smokers to dogs

SOMEBODY WROTE in Speak Out that they didn't smoke and they didn't care if anybody else smoked around them. I'm the same way. I don't smoke, and I don't care if somebody smokes near me. I tell you one thing, I'd rather have somebody smoke in my house and put his ashes in my ashtray than I would to have someone bring their dog into my living room and get doo-doo on my rug.

Learning from our elders

I'M 31 and I live with an elderly woman whom I help. She helps me, and I want to say learning from one generation to the next is very important. We should help learn from one another. The older ones should teach the younger ones, and the younger ones should listen, at least half of it, because the other half is probably out of date.

Gullible president

I'M VERY worried about President Clinton. Everyone seems to be lying to him and worse yet, he seems to be believing them. I can't believe that a man who has gone that far could be so gullible. If he were a teacher and Saddam Hussein was his student, would he believe him if he said the dog ate my homework?

I'D LIKE to respond to a couple of callers in Speak Out. First, under the headline "Derogatory cartoons." The caller was critical of the paper for running so many of them because Bill Clinton was going to be the president for the next four years, and the caller thought you ought to quit criticizing him. Derogatory cartoons have a grain of truth in them, and this is offensive to this caller. Also, to the one under "Potshots at the president." This caller said statistics show that the Republican Party outspends the Democratic Party in soft money. That's right, and all the money they had was legal. The money the Democrats got was illegal from foreigners, crooks, drug dealers from Cuba.