Progressive presidents

I LOVE when Republicans claim Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln as their own. These men were forward-thinking progressives. Roosevelt even began a new party. These men were great presidents but share nothing in common with today's conservatives.

Sensitive information

THANK YOU for your recent article regarding who can and cannot require us to provide our Social Security number. Several years ago, a local video store told me I was required to provide both my Social Security number and a major credit card. I told him I would rent my movies elsewhere and did not go back. I hope businesses will review their policies on this and realize they are taking on a huge responsibility when they record our sensitive identifying information.

Body choices

PEOPLE SAY a woman can do with her body what she wants by having an abortion, but when a woman wants to earn money by dancing on a stage, the community has a big uproar.

The smell repels

THE AWFUL smell of cigarette smoke isn't only in restaurants. I stopped at a well-known retail store to buy a birthday card and left without the card because the second-hand smoke smell was strong. Even though the store has no-smoking signs, somewhere in the building a lot of smoking was going on.

Cozy relationship

THE REASON that we have not drilled for off shore gas in the Gulf of Mexico is that five years ago, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would not allow President Bush to do so. This is exactly what happens when we have Republicans in bed with the oil companies and a president who is a former oil company executive. The next time you spend $60 to fill a 20-gallon tank, you should thank the Republicans, not the Democrats.

Power and money

AS MUCH sympathy as I have for any drug addict, I do not think any other person would have received the same treatment as Rush Limbaugh. The only reason he's not in jail is because of his name and the amount of money he has and the power of his attorneys to stand behind him. I'm tired of the news media saying he's been given a hard time and treated wrongly. The average Joe would have ended up in jail.

Make some decisions

UNINVITED ALIENS have entered American illegally, filled our education system with Spanish-speaking children, demanded free health care and caused an untold financial burden on our working class. They have become so secure in number that our national anthem has been changed. They have demonstrated illegally by the thousands where they demand their non-existent rights. Our political leaders must make some critical decisions, and soon.

Grass in the street

OUR CITY fathers are always asking us to keep our yards clean so it will leave a good impression on those who visit our town. I don't see how we can do this when our neighbors blow all their grass into the street and blow it into everybody else's yards for them to clean up. I'm not going to take it anymore. Please pass a law that you can't blow your grass into the street. It makes our neighborhood look trashy.

Pretty parks

THANKS, VOLUNTEERS, for making Park Day in Jackson a huge success. After a lot of planting and mulching and getting rid of debris, the three parks are ready for a visit from you.

Public transportation

IT WOULD be great if Americans would stop complaining about gasoline prices and asking Congress and the president to do things to make us have artificially cheap fuel. The fuel is going to run out one of these days. We need to spend our time trying find alternative fuel sources, and we need decent public transportation. I think fuel prices probably should go a lot higher to force us to do this. We need to be forced.

Condoned behavior

WHAT BOTHERS me is hundreds of teens have their community's approval to do what was done in "Romeo and Juliet." After all, the schools approved and arranged for students to attend the play. You say the performers were outstanding. If so, they were also convincing. Get the picture?

Conservative attitudes

CONSERVATIVES ARE liberal in condemning others who disagree with them. They are liberal about enforcing our country's laws on those whom they judge as liberal or Democrat. They're liberal with punishment for others than themselves for violating our laws. When it comes to themselves and their conservative friends, they become conservative about enforcing our laws and conservative about the punishment given to their friends. Enforcement of our laws and punishment will be conservative when applied to Rush Limbaugh. If it was a poor liberal Democrat, the cries for harsh punishment would be loud.

No sidewalks

SOMEONE COMMENTED that neighbors would visit more if we had sidewalks. This is a lame excuse. We have no sidewalks in our neighborhood, and the neighbors visit and talk to each other daily. We talk about things like gardening, trees, flowers and politics. The main thing we talk about the fact that we don't want or need sidewalks in our neighborhoods. Sidewalks would not only take away the beauty of our grass and foliage, but it would also destroy the pristine beauty of the neighborhood. In our neighborhood, the first thing people say who are new to Cape Girardeau is, "Thank God, there are no sidewalks in this area."

Blame Democrats

REPUBLICANS ARE being blamed for the high gasoline prices. The facts don't fit the claim. The Democratic faithful need to examine the facts. For the last 30 years, U.S. Rep. Ted Stevens from Alaska tried to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and Democrats have blocked his effort at every step. Democrats have successfully stopped nearly all exploration of oil as they kowtow to the environmental wackos who can't decide whether we're going to die from global warming or another ice age. They have stopped offshore drilling in Florida and California. Their solution is to tax profits of the oil companies, an expense which would only be passed on to the consumer with even higher gas prices. By the way, out of the top 10 richest senators, nine are Democrats, with John Kerry leading the pack.

Free to leave

I'D LIKE to comment on the illegal immigrants in the United States. If they don't like the United States, all they've got to do is pack up and go back where they come from. They have taken a lot of jobs from American citizens.

Doing their job

THE CAPE Girardeau Police Department has been instructed, by the city council with an ordinance, to remove all unauthorized signs that are on or attached to city property. It is a violation of city ordinance to put something on a utility pole or on city property without proper authorization. The garage sale signs fall in that category. The police are doing their jobs and being criticized for it in Speak Out. If you want to put a garage sale sign on somebody's property and they don't have a problem with that, feel free to do it.