Speak Out 6/3/05

Too much worrying

MY CHILD was wearing a helmet until the foam on the inside irritated his skin. I covered the foam with an epoxy but found out the epoxy caused cancer. We decided to walk, but the walking was wearing down his and my cartilage. We stayed home but worried about the house catching fire. We sat outside and worried about a meteor falling on us. Our world is overindulged with worry and protection. Live your life the way you want to as long as you don't harm anyone else.

Not college material

EVERYONE CAN'T have a college degree. Some people have to serve fast food. We need them as much as we do engineers. We need janitors as much as we do mathematicians and teachers. Why should a person who does not have a college degree be punished and make substandard wages? His job is important too. During the war, we wouldn't have made it if it weren't for people who didn't have high school educations to work in factories. Most of our fighting men did not have an education. A person should not be penalized because he did not go to college. Not everybody's college material. Let's get that through our heads.

When life begins

REGARDING Mona Charen's and Gov. Matt Blunt's comments on the Opinion page about when life begins. Do they actually believe a sperm cell is not alive or that an egg is not alive? I wonder how this reasoning extends to the Iraq war and capital punishment. If life begins at conception, I suppose we can do anything we want with sperm and eggs before life.

The Rush Limbaugh Pool

SHERYL CROW does so much for Kennett, Mo. I don't know why Rush Limbaugh couldn't do something for Cape Girardeau like that.

Equal pay

I RESENT men who are not as smart as I am yet make more money that I do. It's ridiculous. Give us women all our back pay. I demand it. I demand to make as much as any man who's not as smart as I am.

We're not socialists

I WISH Speak Out callers would realize they live in America and not some socialist European country. If drivers on cell phones break a traffic law, they should receive a ticket or warning like any other driver. Another caller whining about the need for parents to make their kids wear helmets when bicycling should mind his own business. He said it himself in the last line of his complaint: A child's safety is the parents' responsibility.

More dangerous?

WHY IS it that talking on a cell phone while driving is more dangerous than talking to a passenger while driving? Why is holding a cell phone while driving more dangerous than holding coffee, soda or a hamburger while driving? I've been trying to reason that out for years.

Outrageous sale items

DURING THE 100-mile garage sale, I stopped at a sale at a church. Among the items sold were full beer bottles and a Playboy magazine. I am outraged by this.

Keeping up with Murray

SOME PEOPLE have forgotten that there used to be a pool in Academic Hall at Southeast Missouri State University in addition to the one in Parker Hall. So we have gotten rid of two pools. Now it seems we need an aquatic center. After all, Murray State University has one, and we are a Division I college too. We have to keep up with them.

Gag

Deep Throat has been identified.

We no longer have to guess.

Some think Mark Felt should be fried

For leaking to the press.

Felt worked for the FBI

Investigating Watergate.

It still makes RN backers cry.

They'll respond to Felt with hate.

But most of us couldn't care less.

We'll yawn or read a book

Remembering one line from the mess,

"I am not a crook."

Tossing trash

TO THE driver of the green mini-SUV with the smashed back window and the handicapped plates who was throwing litter out the window on North Kingshighway Friday afternoon: Next time I hope a policeman will be close enough to get you.

Road in special district

I AGREE that County Road 316 could be smoother, but I think the person complaining is talking about the half that is maintained by Cape Girardeau Special Road District, not Cape Girardeau County. That half along with most of the special road district's roads are chip-and -seal patch roads. That is why they are still classified as gravel even though they are not. At least they are paved. We eat dust like half the residents in the county. The neighboring road, County Road 316, is gravel on the county end, but chip and seal on the special road district end. The special road district does a good job in comparison.

Train those dogs

SOMEONE SAID dogs will bark no matter what. Baloney. Considerate pet owners who put time into training their pets don't have dogs that annoy their neighbors day and night. Occasional barking isn't that bad, but continuous barking is ridiculous.

Shame on us

FOOL ME once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Elect another Bush president, shame on the entire country.

Stiffer penalties

TO THE person blaming jurors for the criminals getting off with smaller penalties. The jurors are given a list of penalties they can give for each crime. Most of these crimes these days let even the hard criminals off with probation or parole. What we need is stiffer punishments for the crimes and less probation and parole.

Now it's worse

THANKS, BUT no thanks, to Jackson for paving Bainbridge Road from Donna Drive to Lacey. It is worse than before it was paved.

Sale is a menace

I DON'T agree with the theory that individuals attending the 100-mile yard sale are staying in our hotels and eating in our restaurants for that purpose only. Few people spend $100 a night on a hotel in order to spend a nickel on a yard-sale bargain. The hotels usually fill up on any holiday weekend with or without a yard sale. This 100-mile yard sale is a menace. This yard sale started out as a way to give country folks an opportunity to sell their unwanted wares. Now many of the sellers are professional collectibles and antiques dealers who set up shop along Highway 25 in hopes of making a few bucks.