Speak Out A 10/06/04

Call them barbarians

THE ASSOCIATED Press states that bombing attacks by Iraqi militants killed 35 Iraqi children and wounded scores of other Iraqis. Why doesn't the AP call these beheading barbarian savage terrorists by their actual name, instead of cleaning them up as militants. Barbarians should be called what they are.

Check NIH site for info

I SUGGEST that people who want to know the truth about childhood vaccines and thimerasol should check with the National Institutes of Health, which clearly and convincingly has stated that there is absolutely no link between vaccines and autism. Moreover, the NIH has noted that it is unlikely to impossible to suggest that thimerasol could be linked to autism. Parents, please, vaccinate your children.

A friend in need

THANK YOU for the item on church gossip. I'm guilty of deserting a friend in her time of need. The Bible tells us to love one another. Reading your item made me realize that when my friend had her problems, I walked away. I think of all the good that she has done in our town, always the first to help, always dependable. It makes me ashamed. I'm going to call and tell her she still has a friend in me and to never doubt it.

Fox News apology

FOX NEWS apologized for airing quotes that were attributed to John Kerry that weren't true. Is that all that's going to come out of this? When CBS News and Dan Rather made a mistake -- supposedly -- about President Bush's record, there was a stink about it. What's the difference?

All about taxes

LET ME explain something about corporations and taxes. A corporation is owned by a group of shareholders who purchase shares with money that they have already paid taxes on. They buy shares to fund a corporation, hoping to get a return on their investment, which they will also pay taxes on. Then they will purchase items that are manufactured by the corporation that they own shares of and pay sales taxes on the product that they paid taxes on when the corporation returned a profit on the shares that they had paid for with money that they had been taxed on when they earned it. I'm far from rich, but I do own a few shares of stock, which makes me part of a corporation, and I'm already paying enough taxes. So, if you impose taxes on corporations, that means I'll be paying taxes a fourth time. And we will all be paying higher prices because my board of directors will try to keep paying me a dividend. So some of our neighbors will get laid off to keep my profit up. Then a politician will raise my taxes again to extend unemployment benefits for them. Then my corporation can't make a profit in the United States anymore, so the jobs will move overseas, and I'll get laid off. The moral of this story: Taxes aren't the answer.