SPEAKOUT

Credit GOP Congress

I AGREE with the Speak Out caller that we had a deficit under the Democratic Congress which held our government purse strings. Under our Republican-controlled Congress, we have a surplus, yet Mr. Pervert and Mr. Gore claimed to have worked a miracle. All we have gotten from Mr. Clinton is liberal appointments, liberal presidential decrees, sex scandals and disgrace. Mr. Gore's contribution is praising Mr. Clinton and outright lies of his own accomplishments.

History lesson

I THINK George W. Bush needs a history lesson. The other day he was stating that he was a member of the party of Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln is the Democratic Party. The party that George Bush belongs to used to be the Whigs. I believe Bush needs to learn his history.

The oil administration

THE CLINTON administration has raised taxes on energy products as well as ensuring that America is as dependent and more dependent as ever before on foreign oil.

Reasons to rock

I'M IN my 50s, and I'm not a big rock 'n' roll fan. I'm a country-music fan, but I have to agree with the people who wonder why we can't get some rock groups at the SEMO District Fair. I know it's kind of a tradition to always book country groups, but that doesn't make it right or the best choice. I don't understand what's wrong with rock bands coming here. If you're worried about alcohol, look at what's going on at the fair concerts now. If you're worried that the groups stand for values you don't believe in, one of the singers at the fair talked quite a bit from the stage about drinking, encouraging people to go out and drink. How did he think these folks were getting home? Walking? If you're worried about band conduct, the ladies who sat behind my family at the fair concert were so drunk and obnoxious and spilling their beer all over the place, they were an embarrassment. I don't think country fans are any cleaner-cut or better-behaved or the music is any more moral, than rock. I think the fair board needs to reconsider this.

Rhyme time

MISSOURI REPUBLICAN Party communications director Daryl Duwe recently bungled an attempt to unseat Democratic state Sen. Jerry Howard of Dexter. The only effect Duwe's dirty trick seemed to have was to sow dissension within his own party. The following poem expresses my views about the hapless Duwe:

Daryl Duwe's such a doofus.

His ploy didn't work.

He's just a plain old right-wing goofus

and a real jerk.

Lack of details

I LIKE Speak Out. It makes interesting reading. There are intelligent, knowledgeable people who read Speak Out's contributions, and some are very comical -- such as the person who thought he had good advice for Medicare seniors but failed to explain why Bush's plan was better than Gore's. I doubt he really knew the details.

A grand fair

THE SEMO District Fair was as grand this year as ever, if not a little better. It was so refreshing to see that prayer is not outlawed at the horse show. We Christians still love God and horses. Amen! Also, I want to commend everyone responsible for the great gospel singing that afternoon. Thank you so much.

Wealthy lawyers

STATE SEN. Peter Kinder seems to have a problem with lawyers who become relatively wealthy. This is quite unbecoming of the senator and is at odds with his ongoing crusade against the evils of class envy and class warfare.

Like a dictator

I'D LIKE to offer David Limbaugh some advice. Mr. Limbaugh, it would be much better if you wrote columns suggesting what people might consider doing instead of telling them what they must do, need to do or should do. I'm afraid such language leaves readers with the wrong impression that just beneath the surface of a so-called compassionate conservative Republican lurks the mentality of a right-wing totalitarian dictator.