Speak out 8/12

Need mile markers

IT'S TIME for the runners and walkers in Cape Girardeau to start practicing for the City of Roses half-marathon at the end of September. It's also time for the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department to paint the mile markers on the Cape LaCroix Trail. There are very good mile markers at mile one and mile two, but there's nothing at miles three, four and five.

Thanks for the ride

I WOULD like to thank the young woman who took me to work the other night. There are very nice people out there ready to help.

God didn't make them

A SPEAK Out caller praised the Episcopal Church for accepting a practicing homosexual bishop, remarking that God made him that way. That is absurd. I suppose God also made rapists, pedophiles, adulterers, murderers and thieves? No, he didn't. But he is the way to salvation. God loves the sinner but not the sin. Political correctness does not override the Bible as some clergy and politicians adhere to -- and even some of the gullible public.

Need for change

MEDICAL CARE is not free, but Canadians pay 45 percent less of their GDP for health care than we do. And they live over three years longer. Hospitals are being closed in the United States too, and many people with serious health problems are being moved by helicopter to larger regional hospitals that have specialists available. Please don't try to cover up for a U.S. system that is in dire need for change.

Be happy

IMMACULATE Conception School in Jackson needs to be happy with the assistance it received from the city after the tornado. It doesn't need to take over the entire city. It doesn't need to take away our streets.

Preserving the family

I REALLY appreciate Jack Stapleton's column, "When in doubt, save the children." I've been employed by the Division of Family Services for more than 20 years. I would like to vote for Stapleton as governor of Missouri. I wholeheartedly agree with what he says about preservation of the family. I think many people have forgotten that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and we must put more emphasis on preserving the family.

California reality

I WANT to comment about Arnold Schwarzenegger running for governor of California. This could be the worst thing ever to happen to Republicans. The $36 billion deficit is a Democratic debacle. If Schwarzenegger wins, he will still be up against a Democratic legislature that won't let him do anything. I'd rather see the Democrats stay right in there. When the people of California get enough of high taxes and high unemployment because of the welfare state, maybe they'll come to their senses. But they need a good dose of reality.

It matters to God

READ I Corinthians 6:9. It doesn't matter what you think or I think. It matters what God says about it. He decides where you'll spend eternity. Yes, God loves us all, but we must obey his rule.

Need orientation

I WAS just wanting to know why Scott City School District does not have an orientation day. I would think it would make things go a lot smoother those first few days at school, and I know a lot of the other schools in the area have an orientation day. Who would be in charge of getting that together for future years?

Making a choice

WHAT DO you think of young people who get Mom and Dad to give them all their money before going into nursing homes on Medicaid so they won't lose their inheritance? Senior citizens have paid taxes all their lives. Just because they want a little help with their drugs, somebody complains. I hope no one ever has to make a choice between medicine and food.