SPEAK OUT

Problems remain

MR. GORE and Mr. Carnahan lie about every proposal and stand on issues such as Medicare, insurance and Social Security with negative ads against their opponents. They try to score with the senior citizens with outright lies. It is inexcusable. Of course, it worked last election, so they try it every election. They Democratic Party has become the lying club. Hate and fear are their partners. Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore had eight years to solve all these problems. Now they want to fix them. What hogwash. They never fixed Social Security and Medicare nor had any energy policies. And they ruined our military and never had a foreign policy.

Leave it alone

THE QUESTION of abortion boils down to morality. It is just all depends on what you think is right. And the federal government is not supposed to dictate morality. If the government bans abortions, people are going find out how to do it illegally. The federal government should keep their nose out of it. Both Al Gore and George Bush should not touch the subject of abortion, because it is a question of morality.

Too much control

I THINK this planning and zoning they want for Cape Girardeau County would make the county another St. Louis County where there is no rural area left. It is all business after business, housing developments, subdivisions and shopping center where the rural area and the farm land is getting less and less and less. That is what I think they are wanting to do. I kind of think they are in cahoots with the big land developers. I feel if someone wants to raise hogs they should have a right to raise hogs. If someone wants a junk yard, providing it is not a big rat race, I think more power to them.

Losing our rights

I WAS watching "The Early Show" on teaching children about gun safety. Bryant Gumbel's last words, "Why own a gun? But that is another story" were an example of the media's desire to do away with the Second Amendment. Have they ever thought about what would happen to the First Amendment, their amendment, if there was no way to protect the Constitution? If the government succeeds in taking guns from the honest, law-abiding citizens like Al Gore and the media want, then we will have no rights or safety, because we will have no way to defend ourselves. Don't say it won't happen. Look at Australia and England. Gun owners, if you want to keep your guns and be able to defend your home and family, don't vote for Al Gore.

Ignoring evidence

THE SPEAK Out caller who claimed that those who are concerned about global warming are like latter-day Flat Earth Society members seems very confused. The caller has the image totally backward. Flat-earthers have always been folks who could stand on the cliffs and see the curve of the horizon and watch ships slowly disappear into the distance and then ignore what the clear evidence means. Alternatively they might just turn their backs on the ocean and walk away, denying it completely. In relation to climate change, it is the flat-earther mentality that would ignore the data that show 11 of the past 26 years being the hottest of the century and that the global average ground-level temperature has increased over a degree since the late 1800s. Clearly the flat-earthers are those ignoring or denying the evidence. Flat-earthers are not those who acknowledge and understand it.

So sad, but true

TAMARA ZELLARS Buck's column on home training in Saturday's paper was the best. Every parent should read it. I could just see people reading it saying it is so sad but true. Tamara, you are great.

No options wanted

TO THE caller who suggested options for the Jackson schools: I applaud your creativity. You are thinking outside the box. Unfortunately, Jackson is a box, and you are outside. They don't want options. They want a bond issue passed.