SPEAKOUT

School plan sounds fishy

WHY IS the Cape Girardeau School Board trying to put all the poor kids together into one school and keeping all the rich kids in separate schools? Is it that the rich people don't want their kids with the poor? It sure sounds fishy to me. If a poor person misses the bus, they've got a long way to go. Their kid won't make it to school. Let's be fair here.

Rely on individual initiative

IN THE struggle over the California Civil Rights Initiative, the San Francisco Chronicle, which is apparently as liberal as the Los Angeles Times, belies the fairness of the act because they holler that different groups have different incomes and, therefore, that proves discrimination. Where we got the dogma that human beings are the same in their behavior or in the consequences of their behavior is beyond me, nor is there any reason that they should be except to make this dogma look good. They say that affirmative action or any other policy on any other subject should be continued until some arbitrarily specified person assesses the results. This is like saying that it should be eternal. They should get rid of it now and let people earn on their own merits.

Working to protect grandkids

I'M THE original caller who called about Reagan causing the longest peacetime economic boom in U.S. history, and someone criticized my statement by saying that Reagan caused the biggest deficit in the world and that our grandchildren our going to be paying it off. Whoever the caller was is wrong. I have nine grandchildren, and I'm trying my best to see that they don't have to pay it off. What happened in the 1980s was Reagan caused the peacetime boom. But when they cut taxes, the Democrats said they would cut spending, but the Democrats did not. Congress saw all that money coming in and went on a spending binge that quadrupled the deficit. We elected a Congress in 1994 that we hoped would correct that problem, and they tried to, but every time they'd send something to Clinton, he'd veto it or it would get to the Democrats in the Senate and they would stop form even being voted on. I am going to try my best to elect a 1996 Republican Congress so that they can get through all this material and stop the deficit imbalance and the tremendous debt so our grandchildren won't have to pay it all.

Gymnastics was fun

I WOULD just like to say that I think all the talk about training women gymnasts being child abuse is ridiculous. I was in gymnastics myself for nine years, and I didn't see it as abuse at all. Most of the gymnasts that are in gymnastics are there because they want to be or their parents started them and they like it long enough to stay in it. None of the gymnasts are being forced to stay there by anyone, and if they don't like it or they find it too strenuous, they can always just quit. They're not being made to do anything.

REPLY: There is a big difference between youngsters who participate for fun in any competitive event and those who are pushed to be able to compete at the national or Olympic level.

It must be a slow news day

WHEN THE ruminations of the libertarian, inside-the-Beltway think tank known as the Cato Institute become front-page news in the Southeast Missourian, what are readers left to conclude? That the findings of the Cato Institute perfectly parallel the editorial bias of the newspaper? Not really. You see, the Cato Institute is also pro-choice and favors legalizing drugs, positions not considered consistent with the editorial position of the Southeast Missourian. One could argue that since this one Cato Institute study reinforced the Southeast Missourian's view on one issue, it was selectively chosen to receive front-page attention. But, I wouldn't even go that far. I think the stunning prominence given the Cato Institute's study simply reflected that it was a very, very slow news day.

Another liberal lie

PRAY TELL me what is it that causes one to reach unsupportable conclusions and then be so fervent about their feelings that they write or talk publicly about them? Is it just plain ignorance, or does a selfish agenda drive them to lie outright? I refer to those who continue to malign and maim the finest president we have had this century: Ronald Reagan. They go on saying, "He launched the biggest peacetime economic boom ever," but that "he launched the biggest deficit the world has ever seen." The first part of that is right. The second part is ridiculous. Presidents don't spend money. Congress spends money, and you tell me who controlled the Congress during the Reagan administration. Tell me then who spent the money, and who told Reagan his budget was dead on arrival, and tell me who went on to the biggest spending spree ever that we've ever known. If you still don't get it, then I'll tell you. It was the same Democrats who are saying today that if Bob Dole's tax cuts are like Reagan's it will be a mistake. Don't believe it. It's just another liberal lie.

Time to fight the IRS

I WOULD like to make a comment about the IRS. How come the IRS agents have more power than the people in the FBI and all these other agencies? I hope these people who are burning down churches will stop burning down churches and the American citizens will stand up and fight against the IRS. We need to end these people because taxes are based on a volunteer basis. Where is it in the Constitution that we have to pay taxes? I'd say it's time now to get armed and fight the IRS.

The highest law of all

THIS GOES to the "Law of the land" comment in Speak Out. This is why abortion is legal -- because people like you don't believe that the Bible is the law of the land. God made us, and God made the law.