Speak Out A 10/22/02

Ready to deal

THE FIX is in. By reading the Southeast Missourian coverage of Prestwick Plantation's proposal and the reaction to it by the powers that be, it is obvious that the TIF Commission and the school board are poised to compromise with the pro-Prestwickians. In essence, the TIF Commission and the school board have accepted the principle of welfare for the wealthy. Thus, the only question remaining to be answered is how many millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars will go to finance a development project whose homes will be affordable only by those whose wealth is comparable to medieval barons.

Student viewpoint

IN RESPONSE to the letter "Student feels hurt by the ridicule of other schools": I was appalled by the letter about the girl being ridiculed and the comment made about "the good high school." As a student attending Central High School, I believe the majority of us represent ourselves quite well. But kids will be kids whether they go to a public or private school. Public schools may not be able to bring religion into the classroom, but that doesn't mean religion isn't a part of our lives. There have been many occasions when we will pray before a sporting event or at other important events. I'm not quite sure where you got the impression that going to a public high school is such a bad thing, but you should walk in my shoes for a day. Maybe that would make you realize that Central is also a special high school. I have quite a few friends from Notre Dame Regional High School, and not once have I heard them being ridiculed because of the school they go to. Nor do I see them as being any different.

Inaccurate claim

I SEE in the political advertisements on TV where one of the candidates for the Senate is being accused to voting to privatize Social Security. If I'm not badly mistaken, that is in error. There was no vote to completely privatize Social Security. There was a vote to permit a person to invest 3 percent of what he put into Social Security into types of investments such as stocks, mutual funds and things like that. There was never a proposal to make the whole Social Security system go into self-managed private investments. I think this should be corrected.

Cut off the funding

WITH THE talk of North Korea having nuclear bombs and possibly Iraq having nuclear bombs and other countries not supporting us in our actions to try to prevent this, our politicians should be totally rejected for election if they aren't for cutting off, immediately, any aid we're giving these countries. It is ridiculous for us to give these people money so they can build things to attack us and other countries. Our politicians need to get real and act like they got some guts instead of trying to bribe somebody. Bribery never works. Somebody can outbid you some way.

Looking for information

I LIKE listening to the candidates tell what they will do if elected, but when they start knocking their opponent, I turn off the TV. They are wasting their money and losing votes.

Liberals die in wars

THESE RIGHT-WING Bush Republicans have no copyright on wanting to protect the nation and its citizens and its friends. Liberals have sons and grandsons who will fight and die in the war too, which is one of President Bush's follies. Conservatives have no copyright on being patriots. A lot of our liberals died in Vietnam and Korea and World War II.

Give her a degree

I JUST got through reading the front-page article about Southeast Missouri State University's oldest living alumna, Julia Albrecht. Could the Missourian or somebody please get on the stick about this? Can they please see about getting the clearance to mail this woman an honorary degree from Southeast Missouri State University? She is 108 years old and didn't get to finish college, evidently because of hard times. I see no problem giving this woman an honorary degree.

I WANT to thank the city for the new stoplight reflectors, especially the green color. This has been needed for a long time. This is really a nice improvement. It was hard to see the old gold colors. This is a much improved system.

Senate statistics

WHEN THE Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate in May 2001, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at about 11,000. The budget surplus for this nation was at $236 billion. The budget now is $157 billion in the red. Finally, in May 2001 the unemployment rate in this nation was 4.4 percent. Now, it's 5.6 percent. It's time for a change.

I WOULD Like to say something to the street department. Are the street cleaners on strike? I haven't seen one for months. The way Cape Girardeau looks, a lot of places haven't seen one for months.