SPEAKOUT

Have opinions changed?

I WOULD like to see the results of a nationwide poll of those newspapers and magazines which had stated an early opinion that either (a) President Clinton should leave office (either by resignation or impeachment) or (b) President Clinton should remain in office. My specific interest is in learning the extent to which the information relating to President Clinton's impeachment, recently discussed and debated by the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, has changed the editorial position of the newsprint media. How many instances are there where the editorial position of a newspaper changed from (a) to (b), or in the opposite direction from (b) to (a)? And how many newspapers, which previously were noncommittal, have now stated their position? And how many newspapers have reaffirmed their early position? A poll that provides these numbers would enable the American people to compare whether the information concerning President Clinton's actions has had any greater effect in changing opinions of the newsprint media than it appears to have had in changing the options of the Republican and Democrat members of the impeachment committee.

Actions were perverted

REGARDING THE caller who was upset because you guys let some other caller exercise his right to free speech in this free country and call Clinton a pervert: I have to wonder. Does she think cigar sex is normal? And cigar sex is the only one of the president's sexual perversions I have time to discuss, except to point out the fact the president's defenders miss is that the entire Lewinsky affair borders on child molestation by a 50-year-old man. Remember, Monica was barely 22. You only have to read the Tripp tapes -- or, better yet, listen to them -- to discern that Monica, poor child, hardly has the intellectual capacity of a middle school student (which sounds about right for advisers of this administration.)

Militia is everybody

THIS IS in reference to the Dec. 10 comment claiming to end some ignorance in regards to the Second Amendment. The caller said he feels that the courts have ruled that you need to be a member of the National Guard in order to own a gun. The caller invited people who disagree with him to look it up. Well, I have looked it up. I've been looking it up for 20 years, and his position is the most convoluted I've ever encountered. If you go back in the original founding documents, you'll find that what we call the National Guard was referred to as the select militia and considered only slightly less dangerous and reprehensible than the standing army. In all the documents where militia is referred to, the definition that the Founders used was every able-bodied male citizen capable of acting in concert and expected to turn out with arms and equipment supplied by themselves. I have no idea where the caller comes up with this membership in the National Guard requirement to own guns, but I have never encountered anything like that in 20 years of investigating.

Love your country more

TO ALL the people who love Bill Clinton, that's great. But you should love your country more. So ask him to resign and show the character you say he has.

A lie is a lie is a lie

ONE OF Bill Clinton's defenses -- among many, he says -- is that a misleading statement is not perjury. I beg to differ with him. A misleading statement, under oath, is the same thing as a lie. Just like half a truth is the same as a lie when you're under oath especially. In fact, if you're not under oath, it's still a lie.

Skirting the law

I FIND it disturbing these days that we have a president in this country who finds the truth is what he perceives it to be and not what the law and the citizens of this country perceive it to be. I also find disturbing the recent movement by our mayors across the United States to ban handguns by using another diversionary tactic: litigation against manufacturers and dealers to price the handguns and firearms out of the reach of the common citizen. Citizens have voted to allow persons to own handguns for personal protection and sport. Our politicians, in this particular instance our mayors, seem to feel they know better than the people who have voted them into office and feel it necessary to circumvent popular opinion by using litigation just as the criminals do to circumvent what is right and what is correct.

Looks like a conspiracy

THIS IS the first impeachment hearing I have ever watched, and I will be 70 years old next year. It's obvious to me that there is a conspiracy here among Democrats to keep their man in office. I don't know why none of them will tell the truth.

Hyde did good job

I THINK Henry Hyde did a wonderful job, folks, just as he did in World War II on the battlefield. He's a combat-decorated veteran in World War II. Don't take him lightly, especially you liberals.

We'll get along just fine

I DON'T understand all of the fuss over Democrats saying we can't overturn the election of Bill Clinton by impeachment. Have they forgotten voting articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon when he won by an overwhelming landslide, where Bill Clinton only won by a mere 42 to 43 percent of the vote? I have been around since President Warren Harding, and I have seen presidents come and go. Believe me, we can get along without Bill Clinton.

Abuse is misuse

ABUSE ACCORDING to the dictionary is misuse. Clinton abused his power of the office of the presidency by misusing the executive privileges time and again for personal reasons to avoid damaging evidence that would come out that would prove his lying and covering up. He is an absolute disgrace to this nation.

It's a sad day

IT'S A sad day in the U.S. Congress when we have to impeach a president. The Congress is doing the right thing. I am happy that they are doing what's right, that they are doing their duty, but it's still a sad day. I hope our government will become better.

Credit goes to Linda Tripp

ALL OF you Clinton haters should be very thankful to Linda Tripp and send her a Christmas card and maybe some gifts. She was able to come up with something on the president after Mr. Starr had spent $40 million and never come up with a thing. She should be paid as one of his assistants. She really has helped him.

I WAS calling on the cutest pets of Christmas and thought that the pictures would be in color. Some of the pets, even though I always think mine's the cutest, there are some that are darling that you can't hardly see their face. If they paid $10 to have their pet entered, I think this was very unfair, grossly overrated and underplayed. I really am not happy with most of the pictures that are in that. Mine, at least, comes out somewhat but there are some darling ones I'm sure and you didn't do them justice. If you're going to do something like and we're going to pay $10, it should at least be in color, it should be larger, you should have done it daily for the number that you were going to allow to be in the paper. So I'm very unhappy and displeased whether my pet would win or not, probably not, but some of them could have and because of the poor quality of the pictures, won't have a chance.

He's a deviant

TO THE person who was offended by some Speak Out callers who referred to President Clinton as a pervert: I want you to know that the politically correct term is sexual deviant.

Coup costs GOP support

AFTER THIS coup in Washington, I'll never, ever vote a Republican ticket.

Rubbing his nose in it

EVERY TIME I looked at the House Judiciary Committee, I just wanted to puke at that Henry Hyde. There's a man who had a five-year affair with a married woman, standing up there and being a judge of the president. That is just rubbing it into the public's nose. People don't like that, and you'd better get your head on straight or the Republicans will be out of office like they should be.

Policy teaches work ethic

CAPE CENTRAL'S attendance police promotes a higher rate of attendance and helps teach students something about the work ethic, the importance of being punctual, showing up on a regular basis and so forth. That the policy is coming under fire largely from the upper class is not surprising. Attendance policies designed to promote perfect attendance may interfere with elitist family vacations to Vail, Vegas, Venice and so forth.

Talking to myself

I TOO have a terrible habit of talking to myself while driving along in my car. But I'm not going to worry about it much until I start answering myself. Then it will be a different story.

Follow Peter's example

TO YOU Christian Coalition, extreme right-wing hypocrites: You say the president lied and should resign from office like Mr. Falwell states, "Do the honorable thing." The Apostle Peter lied. He lied three times. He denied Christ. If they were around then, would they have said Christ would have forgiven Peter, but he should have sent him on, ostracized him, no longer let him be his disciple? No, Christ forgave him, and he said, "Peter, on this rock I will build my church." He did a much worse thing. He denied our Lord the Savior, the one they cling to. Would Mr. Falwell and his extreme right-wing self-righteous hypocrites say the Apostle Peter should have been thrown out? Think where we would have been. The Apostle Peter ended up dying the way Christ did, just very saintly. So, don't forget he lied, but he was forgiven.

We'll rue the day

DOES ANYBODY actually believe that any politician, Republican or Democrat, would try to impeach a sitting president over a sexual affair? Get real. I'm appalled at such thinking. The day will come, mark my words, when every person in this country who said that it's OK to lie under oath about sex or anything else will rue the day, whether Bill Clinton is impeached or not.

Practicing for cantata

TO THE person who was talking about the people talking to themselves in the car. I was probably one of those people, but I wasn't really talking to myself. I was just practicing my Christmas cantata. It's coming up soon.

It's about honor, dignity

I HAVE followed the House Judiciary Committee hearings since day one. I believe any individual viewing these hearings, whether they be Democrat or Republican, must know in their hearts the president is guilty on all four articles to voted on by the full House and then passed on to the Senate for possible impeachment. I compliment committee chairman Henry Hyde who presided so eloquently with dignity and the utmost fairness to all concerned. He did so with constant hammering from the Democratic side. I am especially unhappy with Rep. Maxine Waters from California whose main objective was to try and promote racial overtones into the debate, going so far as making a motion that her nay vote be recorded in history separately so that her grandchild, her ambassador husband and all of her siblings could refer to this historical vote with pride. I get this impression of Maxine Waters: the lights are on but no one's home. No person is above the law. Perjury, obstruction of justice, abuse of power are all serious offenses. This is not about being a Democrat or Republican or whether the economy is good or bad. This is about honor and dignity and justice for all. This, my friend, is about America. I urge all concerned parties to call Jo Ann Emerson and let her know we expect a yes vote for impeachment.

Hands-free telephoning

I COULDN'T believe when I read in the paper about people who were talking about people talking in the car by themselves. Don't they know about the hands-free cellular phone? You don't have to have the phone in your hand to be able to talk. You just talk into a microphone in your car. Maybe that's what the people were doing.

Faith being restored

IT APPEARS that at least the majority of our elected representatives are going to abide by the Constitution, and that makes me so proud and so happy. I hate the thought of an impeachment, but at least I've got sense enough to know that Bill Clinton has broken laws and should be impeached just as the Constitution says. It delights me that my faith is being restored in our elected officials.

Barry is humbug

I THINK the Southeast Missourian is getting real hard up to print such articles as the Dave Barry article in the Sunday paper. I think it's bah humbug.

Height of hypocrisy

I WONDER where all of the Republicans got their idea of what the people believe and stand for. In the impeachment mess, the public is two to one against the actions of the Judiciary Committee. The idea of a tax cut while we have a national debt of over $5.5 trillion is the height of fiscal irresponsibility. Even if the debt were less $1 trillion like it was when Reagan took office, it should be paid off. We are now paying over $200 billion more in interest on the debt for which we get nothing than we were when Ronald Reagan came into office. And then you have that whole bunch of adulterers, many of whom have illegitimate children, chastising Bill Clinton. It's the height of hypocrisy

They're lying too

THE DEMOCRATS are playing politics as usual in Washington. The House Judiciary Committee met for several weeks, listened to lots of evidence, listened to experts, talked together, argued about it. In the end, every single Republican thought the president had lied under oath. Every single Democrat thought the president had not lied under oath and did not deserve impeachment. Well, we all know he lied under oath repeatedly, yet every single Democrat denies it. In a way, they're lying.

Bon voyage

TO THE lady who called into Speak Out on the issue of the River Campus and said she is moving out of Cape Girardeau because of her disappointment with the decision to fund the project, I just wanted to express my hope that she sells her house soon so she'll be gone quickly.

Sometimes it's not lying

MR. CLINTON, the habitual liar, denies the lies that he commits. He says he was never alone with Monica but they had an affair. Doesn't he know that his supporters don't care if he lies or commits adultery? They think anyone who has lied to a grand jury should be commended for their stand and should be admired. A liberal view: A lie isn't a lie if you think your actions are right.

How did she get elected?

HAVING BEEN on this earth for over 50 years, I've seen my share of nuts. I thought I'd seen every kind of nut imaginable until I got to witness Rep. Maxine Waters on the House Judiciary Committee. Talk about a dingbat. It amazes me that this person is an elected person. Who in his right mind could vote for such a person?

Still tampering

YOU CAN'T put a price tag on justice. Either we have justice or we have political greed. Our country was founded on justice. Our forefathers left other countries to come to America to establish a nation of justice. Clinton is a disgrace to our nation. This lobbying effort by the White House to influence congressional members undecided on impeachment is another tampering with witnesses which Clinton is noted for the impeachment article No. 3.

Snooping on the snoops

MARY NALL recently blasted the government for snooping into our lives while at the same time criticizing the government for failing to conduct a snooping-into-our-lives investigation.