Speak Out 6/18/09

Unlikely reasoning

AT the very moment the Pakistani government and military are making progress in eliminating and running off Taliban terrorists, the Southeast Missourian inexplicably and stunningly publishes a peacenik piece based on the premise that the Taliban and like-minded terrorist groups are generally amenable to sitting down and reasoning together.

Immigration solution

THE illegal Mexican immigration problem is resolving itself. More illegals are now leaving than entering the nation. All of the credit for this goes to the recession.

Sacrificing lawyers

LAWYERS will provide the solution. We are hearing about a Global Justice Initiative where our American military must read Miranda rights to the Afghan terrorist prisoners they capture. Rather than view this as a problem, we should view it as an opportunity. For every U.S. soldier, we should draft a U.S. lawyer to accompany the soldier in the field. The lawyers would be assigned to stand near our soldiers and be ready to read the Miranda rights to enemy soldiers at the very instant he quits firing and surrenders. I know we could lose a lot of lawyers that way, but their sacrifice for the good of the rest of America would be so much appreciated.

Religious freedom

THE recent comment on church and state was wrong in saying this nation was not founded as a Christian nation. Our forefathers were all Christians, except with the possible exception of Jefferson. They were for freedom of religion. They established the First Amendment because they did not want a state church like the one in England.

Curbing pets

SOMETHING has to change. I'm tired of free-for-the-taking being a safe haven for people who don't take care of their pets by spaying or neutering them. These people are creating homeless cats. If we all have our cats and dogs spayed and neutered, a lot less cruelty would occur.

Streets first

WHY are we wanting to put an aquarium by the river when the streets in Cape Girardeau are so pathetic to drive on it's unbelievable? Why not put our tax dollars into the streets? That's what we use every day going back and forth to work. That makes a whole lot more sense to me than investing a lot of money in upgrading the riverfront. Let's upgrade streets in Cape Girardeau.

TV mess

HOW many years did it take to mess TV up? How many years will it take to fix it?

Health-care future

I just listened a little bit to President Obama talking about health care and nationalization of health care and how health-care costs have gone up. If people believe this is going to drive the cost of health care down. they're not thinking. People will think they've got health care coming to them, like they do other things from the government. It's abused. The government will fight back by having it so that it takes you months to see a doctor and years for surgery. That's what's happening in other countries. People without health care will probably think this is great. People who have been working to provide for themselves will not like it.

No raises

I think it's sad that the old people on Social Security are not getting a raise in 2010 after the government bailed out all these companies. I think that's pretty bad.

Motorcycle concern

WHILE driving down Perryville Road I noticed there were six motorcycles behind me following so closely that had I been forced to stop, there would have been several of them in my front seat with me. I was traveling the speed limit, but one of the motorcyclists became so impatient that he roared around me on the right side. This was right at Capaha Park in the daytime. Had there been a child, or an adult for that matter, crossing the street, they would have been killed. To make matters worse, once the rest of the motorcycles got to Broadway, some of them roared through the convenience store parking lot instead of waiting to make a right turn. I think motorcyclists, if they want respect, should show it.

Highway forsythia

I think the parks department has done a good job with the shrubbery and the trees in the parks, but I'd like to see some forsythia bushes along South Kingshighway. You can break limbs off a bush you have in the park and stick them in the ground. They will grow. And it would dress up the highway.