SPEAKOUT

Senators' true colors exposed

IT APPEARS that Ashcroft and Bond's true characters have been exposed. Ashcroft knew that Bond would need political cover to vote against the appointment of Judge White. Ashcroft solicited the police chiefs first for a negative reaction and was refused. He then solicited the sheriffs that we now know had an emotional reason for eschewing a negative response. Tragically, one of the sheriffs lost his wife in a case where Judge White had overthrown the penalty due to constitutional issues. Ashcroft's own appointees have voted to overturn the death penalty more times than Judge White has. Bond's other reason for opposing Judge White's nomination is so weak as to be laughable. Bond had no problem with White's record when he was courting the support of blacks during his last election. The record has not changed in the meantime. When it comes time to follow through on his promises, he finds dishonest and hypocritical reasons to do so. I hope the good people of this area keep the low character of Ashcroft and Bond in mind the next time that they go to the polling booth.

Now Republicans are tax and spend

FOR YEARS and years Republicans have been demonizing Democrats as tax and spend. We've been told that all of Reagans income distribution, giving money to the rich at the expense of the poor, none of this would cause a budget deficit if we just had Republicans in Congress who would then have the discipline to not spend so much of our hard-earned tax dollars. Well, folks, take a look at what's going on now. We have a Republican Congress, and it is busting its own self-imposed spending limits daily. It is now looking at your Social Security as a way to bail itself out of its spending frenzy. Should the term "tax and spend" now be applied to the Republicans.

Band is great, outstanding

I WOULD like to comment on the Central High School Marching Tigers. I am one of the flag parents, and I would like to say that they are a great, outstanding Marching Tiger band. They really put a lot of time into their practices and their performances at their competitions. They were an outstanding band at the Jackson band festival.

Race card isn't always a good excuse

I BELIEVE racism is deplorable. I believe it is equally deplorable when people use the charge of "playing the race card" as a shield to hide behind. If one has performed acts that are racist in nature, and the public charges them with racism, you should not expect to automatically let off the hook just by claiming that your opponents are playing the race card.

Take care of city first

I THINK our city fathers we voted in should begin to take care of the city of Cape Girardeau and quit backing the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus project. I thought the River Campus project had a lawsuit against it. Why are they going on with spending all of this money when it's not a sure thing?