Speak Out 1/24/08

All about money

ANY TIME you see "climate change" and "green" in the same article, it's about the color of your money.

Give us our money

IT'S IRONIC that our government is willing to give up to $800 to taxpayers this year for an economic stimulus package but won't give us on Social Security more than a 2.3 percent increase while the cost of living has gone beyond what a lot of us can bear.

Possible causes

HAS THERE been any research to see if there's connection between use of birth-control pills or drug usage in autism?

Paying for it

WHOM DO you think will pay for the stimulus package? You.

Distracting lights

THIS IS with regard to lighted business signs. All of these lights at nighttime are distracting. Even during the daytime there are too many things on each side of the road that you're looking at. How can you concentrate on your driving? We need a slower speed zone if I'm going to be gawking. I had a hard time tonight keeping my focus.

Giveaway money

I'M WONDERING where President Bush is going to get the money he proposes to give us to stimulate the economy. Is he going to take it out of Social Security? It's funny. The nation is in debt, and we have to borrow from foreign countries. Now Bush has money to give away.

Plenty of gas

I WOULD like to speak to all the people who think the government knows how to do things better than we do. I point to the Social Security program and ethanol as examples. Ethanol production is raising the price of food. It is subsidized and will only produce 5 percent of the fuel needs of the United States. The whole East Coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina is lined with natural gas. Environmentalists will not let us drill for it. Off the coast of California are massive amounts of propane. Environmentalists won't let us drill for it. The government throws a lot of money into something that will only produce 5 percent of what we need, while we have untapped energy right off our coasts.

How we teach

I THINK it's great that the teachers of Leopold School District care about their students and that the students are learning what they're being taught. In the Southeast Missourian there's an article about making an end-of-course exam count toward the student's final grade in algebra, English, biology and government classes in the near future. When 97 percent of a class is failing, how are students supposed to pass an end-of-course exam? The way the students are being taught needs to be examined. Something needs to be done.

River Campus parking

I'VE BEEN reading how the city wants to crack down on students parking around the River Campus. I'm not a Southeast Missouri State University student now, but I was a student there several years ago. The university doesn't seem to have much of a commitment to creating any way for people to get to classes at the River Campus in a reasonable manner. I have thought about attending some of the performances at the River Campus, but I don't because I have no idea how I would park. The university needs to make it clear where parking is permitted and how to access it.

Thanks for alley

I WOULD like to thank the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department for the good job it did on the alley in the 1400 block of Bloomfield Street at the entrance to the west end of the alley. The crew did a wonderful job. Thank you.

Pay for quality

SHAME ON the comment begrudging teachers a raise. Teachers deserve a raise. It would help us get better quality teachers. Teaching shouldn't be volunteer work, considering you need a college education. That's expensive.

Can't use the pool

WHEN IS the Central Pool going to be ready for us to use? We have not had the use of it for three months. The city knew there were problems last spring. Why wasn't it fixed then? Now it has been three months that we have not been able to use the pool at all.

One-lane bridge

I DRIVE to and from Jackson every day on Bainbridge Road. I would like to clarify how a one-lane bridge works. It is my understanding that when several cars are backed up, the traffic is supposed to alternate, right? However, while I am stopped to allow a driver that arrived before me pass, another driver behind that driver keeps coming like it is his turn. Am I wrong in my assumption that traffic should alternate? Or should I just start bulldozing my way through like many of the drivers that I meet? Is it bad to note that nine out of 10 of the people who bulldoze their way through the one lane bridge are women who don't understand how these things work? Maybe I don't know how to drive.

Imagine that ...

WOW! SOMETIMES I'm blown away by the stunning ads I hear. For example, I heard one the other day to the effect that a long-range study has discovered that a leading cause of fatigue is lack of adequate sleep.

Turning blue

I AGREE something has to be done. People are doing it everywhere. There is no place you can get away from it. They do it in restaurants, cars, retail stores, even churches. They are exhaling those horrible smells and harmful gasses into the air for the rest of us to breathe in, making people sick. Government has to do something. Write your city councilman and state and federal legislators. Insist they immediately pass a law to ban this practice that is obviously harmful to everyone. We have to act immediately to force people to stop breathing in public.