SPEAK OUT

A haiku

Oil prices sky high

We bomb some Arabs

It's Democrazy?

Give customers jobs

BILLIONS OF dollars of the trade deficit, included in Washington's numbers, are dollars paid to large American-owned companies which operate their plants in China to take advantage of lower wages. Washington should start putting pressure on these companies home to employ thousands of their own customers.

Only if we agree

FEDERAL JUDGES should "favor preservation of constitutional principles over all else," said a Southeast Missourian screed. I think I agree but you kinda left readers hanging as to exactly where you stand. We would have had a better idea of what you meant had you written that federal judges should "favor preservation of those constitutional principles most supported by the Southeast Missourian editorial staff."

Head in the sand

BUSH'S OSTRICH diplomacy vis--vis the Mideast is a mega-disaster.

Alternative energy

NASA HAS done nothing of great significance for mankind for over 30 years. How about an executive order mandating that the resources and funds at NASA be used to explore alternative energy production. NASA has something to start with: wind, wave, solar all clean and affordable. Let's see President Bush's concern for the environment he subtly hints about.

Please explain

TO THOSE who would deny the terminally ill the use of medical marijuana: Please help me to explain the reasoning to my 68-year-old grandmother. She isn't a hippie or a criminal. She has a cancer, which is rapidly bringing her precious life to an end. She lives in constant agony when not vegetablized by prescription drugs. Marijuana is the only thing which gives her enough appetite and relief to live another day.

What will be left?

I VOTED for George W. Bush because it frightened me to think of our military after four more years of tearing down. Now I hope there will be a land left to defend.

Keep it separate

I ASSUME that the seat-belt crackdown is in the best interest of public safety. Why not, while writing the ticket for the belts, check for a concealed pack of smokes? Seat-belt laws are in affect due to intensive lobbying from insurance groups. Cigarettes are not illegal due to intensive lobbying from the tobacco industry. It's not about public safety. It's about the dollar. I propose a separation of church, state and big business.

Separate for a reason

A QUESTION about this faith-based program President Bush has created which allows the government to give money to institutions of faith. Will non-Christian faiths be allowed equal portions? What about pagan faiths, or satanic cults? Will Muslims or Buddhists be shortchanged? I see a window for serious religious discrimination occurring here. This is why church and state are separate.

Now the compassion

AFTER MORE than 100 days, I have seen more than enough of the conservatism. Now I am waiting to see the compassion.

Council anarchy

AFTER VIEWING Monday's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting on TV, I can say with some certainty that anarchists are encouraged. Advocates of vigilantism seem well-represented on our village governing body. Those concerned with such trivial matters as due process of law may be alarmed, though the elements of city government who seem partial to taking the law into their own hands are in the minority, at least for now. Can Cape become a government of men and not of law? Maybe not, but Mayor Spradling and his allies will have to work overtime to stem the tide.

No correlation

WE CAN either have a moral president and hard times or an immoral one and good times, a Speak Out caller seemingly spouted in defense of T-ball on the White House lawn. I don't think its either-or. For example, we had high gas prices when practicing Christian Jimmy Carter was president and good times when skirt-chasing JFK was calling the shots.

Ridiculous argument

I KEEP hearing on the news about gene-altered foods. What do these opponents think of the natural selection and genetic changes that have come through nature over many thousands of years? I think this debate seems ridiculous, and I can't imagine why people bother themselves with it.

Take responsibility

ALLOW ME to begin by saying how privileged we are to live in a country where the only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves. We're free to say what's on our mind. This country as a whole, though, has neglected to take responsibility for itself. I'm referring to the past eight years of neglect by not maintaining our country's infrastructure and the assurance of military superiority and moral integrity. We have the opportunity to rebuild by taking responsibility for our own lives, to rebuild our power grids by allowing more plants to be built, to rebuild by producing more oil and lessen our dependency on foreign sources, to rebuild by researching development on energy alternatives. By working together -- and I know we can do it -- there will be no limit to our success. There is absolutely no reason to sacrifice. Instead, we should heighten our standard of living.

Mighty Chaffee

CONGRATULATIONS, CHAFFEE baseball team. Now, perhaps, we can make the headlines. Congratulations for the hard work and dedication. We may be small, but we're awfully mighty. Congratulations.

Inherited mess

IN 1996, Gov. Pete Wilson signed California's electricity deregulation law. That was to lower rates, increase competition and provide a powerful stimulant for business. Now Wilson says the measure was obviously flawed and needs corrective surgery. So please don't blame the mess on Gov. Gray Davis. He inherited the mess from a Republican who made a huge mistake and now admits it. The blame belongs on Wilson. You Republicans can't be honest, can you?

Fixing gas prices

HAS ANYONE noticed that the leader of one political party wrote a book wherein he said he wanted $5 per gallon gasoline? His party has done everything possible to achieve this goal. They tried to stop oil exploration and oil refineries in order to raise the price of gasoline. They've tried to raise taxes on gas in order to raise the price. On the federal and state level, the state has tried to raise prices of gasoline. Now they're complaining that gas is nearly $2 a gallon. They ought to be complaining that it's too cheap not close to the $5 per gallon they wanted. What a bunch of liars.

Others should follow

I AGREE with David Limbaugh about John Ashcroft's Bible study hurting no one. In fact, other politicians might be better off if they were to follow his lead and put it into practice throughout the day.